Stephanie Barron studied history at Princeton and Stanford, where she was an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow in the Humanities. She is the author of the historical suspense novels A Flaw in the Blood and The White Garden, as well as the critically acclaimed and nationally bestselling Jane Austen Mystery series. A former intelligence analyst for the CIA, Barron--who also writes under the name Francine Mathews--drew on her experience in espionage for such novels as Jack 1939, which The New Yorker described as "one of the most deliciously high-concept thrillers imaginable." She lives and works in Denver, Colorado.