Olson, Karen E.

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Olson, Karen E.

PERSONAL: Born in New Haven, CT; married; children: one daughter. Education: Roanoke College, received degree.

ADDRESSES: Office—New Haven Register, 40 Sargent Dr., New Haven, CT 06511. Agent—Scovil, Chichak, Galen Literary Agency, 381 Park Ave. S., Ste. 1020, New York, NY 10016. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: New Haven Register, New Haven, CT, travel editor. Worked for newspapers in CT for twenty years.

AWARDS, HONORS: Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award, Mysterious Press, for Sacred Cows.

WRITINGS:

Sacred Cows (mystery novel), Mysterious Press (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Journalist Karen E. Olson's debut mystery novel, Sacred Cows, was the winner of the first Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award, named after the "late Mysterious Press editor who was known for her ability to discover new talent," noted Bill Ott in Booklist. Anise Hollingshead, reviewing the novel on the Book-Loons Web site, stated that "the story is fast-paced, with exciting action, interesting characters and a dash of romance, to boot."

Olson's story's protagonist, Annie Seymour, is a crime reporter at the New Haven Herald. In her thirties, she feels as if her life is stagnating both personally and professionally, but she stays true to her journalistic roots. She is jolted from her doldrums when a beautiful Yale University co-ed is found murdered near a luxury high-rise condominium. Annie discovers that the girl was working for an escort service and concludes that her death was related to her dubious line of work. Before she can even get a decent start on her investigation, however, influential people try to get Annie to abandon the story, among them her boss, her police-officer boyfriend (who recently walked out on her), and even her mother (who is also a lawyer). Sensing an important story, Annie refuses to be sidetracked—even after she is mugged—frightened off the case. Unexpected competition from a reporting colleague, serious disdain from the Yale administration, and a potential new love interest in the form of a handsome private investigator cannot rattle her as she zeroes in on the gritty answers behind the murder. Another murder of a female undergraduate, who was also employed by the same escort agency, fuels Annie's desire to crack the case.

Olson is "onto something good" with the character of Annie, Ott remarked. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented that "the spunky, imperfect Annie is an engaging protagonist." The book is "a fun romp, and Annie is an appealing protagonist—cranky yet witty; tough, yet vulnerable and easy to root for," stated a reviewer on the Curled Up with a Good Book Web site. Harriet Klausner, writing on the Best Reviews Web site, called Olson's work a "fabulous journalist who-done-it with a strong police procedural and an academic setting to anchor the tale."

Olson told CA: "I've been writing since I was in elementary school. I've always loved reading and wanted to write a book all my life—good books are my greatest influence. My writing process is fairly simple: I sit down at my computer and write. I don't use an outline, I would rather just let the story unfold as I'm writing. Since I have a family and a day job, I write only about an hour a day.

"I have no illusions that my book is great literature. Rather, I write to entertain, to let the reader escape into another world for a short time. Since I've written about a journalist, I want to portray the newspaper world accurately so readers can see what it's like for a reporter covering a story."