Hill, Bonnie Hearn 1945-

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Hill, Bonnie Hearn 1945-

PERSONAL:

Born 1945, in Yuma City, CA; married Larry Hill.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Fresno, CA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer and educator. Worked as a newspaper editor for twenty-one years. Writers' workshop instructor in Fresno, CA; online instructor for Writer's Digest School; managing editor for http://www.authorshowcase.com.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

(With husband, Larry Hill) Johnnie Ray and Miss Kilgallen, Durban House Publishing (Dallas, TX), 2002.

Intern, MIRA (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2003.

Killer Body, MIRA (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2004.

Deadly Strike, Salvo Press (Bend, OR), 2004.

Double Exposure, MIRA (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2005.

Off the Record, MIRA (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

If It Bleeds, MIRA (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

Cutline, MIRA (Don Mills, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

OTHER

The Freelancer's Rulebook, Blue Dolphin Press (Grass Valley, CA), 1998, expanded edition published as The (Expanded) Freelancer's Rulebook, Story Line Press (Ashland, OR), 2002.

Also author, with Harold Zinkin, of Remembering Muscle Beach. Contributor to periodicals, including Writer's Digest, American Writers Review, ByLine, Family Circle, Writing for Money, and Editor-Writer.

SIDELIGHTS:

Former newspaper editor Bonnie Hearn Hill has written several thrillers, often involving newspaper reporters. Hill wrote her first novel with husband Larry Hill. The roman à clef Johnnie Ray and Miss Kilgallen is based on real people, namely fifties pop singer Johnnie Ray and Dorothy Kilgallen, who was a panel member on the early television game show What's My Line. When Ray appears on the game show, he and Dorothy began a love affair, despite the fact that Dorothy is already married. When Dorothy, a one-time respected journalist, dies, conspiracy theorists believe that it has something to do with her interest in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Bill Ott, writing in Booklist, commended the authors for "creating a moody, gin-soaked ode to nightlife and star-crossed lovers."

According to Hill, she wrote her solo novel Intern because of her interest in relationships between older men and younger women. The story revolves around the disappearance of the young and pretty intern April Wayne, who believes that the California senator she was working for would leave his wife for her. The book follows the investigation led by April's mother, Gloria, with the help of her psychic hairdresser. Gloria soon learns of the senator's true nature, which includes kinky sex with both women and men. "The resolution may be a bit lurid for some tastes, but that won't make it any easier to put this page-turner down," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor.

In Killer Body, the story is narrated by newspaper reporter Rikki Fitzpatrick, who blames spokeswoman Julie Larimore and the Killer Body weight-loss company for the death of her cousin Lisa. When Julie disappears and her potential replacements are threatened, Rikki decides to find out what really happened to the missing woman. Jenny McLarin, writing in Booklist, noted the author's "skill in combining first-rate suspense with glamorous characters and a topical story line."

In Off the Record, Hill presents a thriller featuring Reebie Mahoney, a hard-working San Francisco woman who holds down two jobs. When Reebie becomes a suspect in the murder of Nora McFarland, a woman who often bought cosmetics from Reebie at the department store where Reebie works, she is saved from arrest by reporter Leo Kersikowski. The two then go on to investigate the murder, which may have something to do with the late President Michael Remington and his mistress. Calling Off the Record "an entertaining political romantic suspense thriller," an MBR Bookwatch contributor added: "The story line is action-packed."

Hill begins her newspaper thriller series featuring hearing-impaired reporter Geri LaRue with the novel If It Bleeds. Cutline, the follow up to If It Bleeds, finds Geri starting her new job at the San Francisco Times only to find that her proposed roommate and coworker at the newspaper, Leta Blackburn, is missing. Leta's disappearance may have something to do with a story Leta was working on about a murdered priest. As Geri investigates, she discovers that the priest's death is the work of a serial killer. Eventually, Geri enlists the aid of an erotomania expert named Malcolm Piercy, and the two soon uncover that the murders may involve scandal in high places. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote of the novel that "glimpses into the killer's mind provide some tricky hints that will keep readers guessing."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, July, 2002, Bill Ott, review of Johnnie Ray and Miss Kilgallen, p. 1821; February 15, 2004, Jenny McLarin, review of Killer Body, p. 1042.

Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2002, review of Intern, p. 1720.

MBR Bookwatch, April, 2005, review of Double Exposure.

Publishers Weekly, January 27, 2003, review of Intern, p. 237; January 12, 2004, review of Killer Body, p. 38; August 28, 2006, review of Cutline, p. 37.