Ellen Byerrum
Author of mystery

Mystery and thriller writer Ellen Byerrum is a former journalist in Washington, D.C., as well as a produced and published playwright. She studied for and received her private investigator’s registration for the Commonwealth of Virginia. She has also researched haunted clothing at the Smithsonian Costume Collections, toured a dying velvet factory in Virginia, and interviewed a host of experts for her books. And while looking into beekeeping and honey making for THE BRIEF LUMINOUS FLIGHT OF THE FIREFLY mystery, she got too close to her research–and wound up with a bee sting on her nose.

Her latest book, CROOK TALES FOR TWO, is an Art Deco delight where comedy, mystery, and romance intertwine in a frothy mix. This caper is set in New York City in 1934. Prohibition is over and those with money pop the bubbly, dance the nights away, and attend the latest Broadway plays. Mere days before her first Broadway opening, playwright Esmé de LaForet discovers what happens when good deeds go awry: murder, mobsters, reporters, dangerous dames from high and low society, and nerve-wracking opening nights. Esmé has enough on her plate; she doesn’t need the complications that come when she tries to return a lost watch. She follows the watch’s owner when he ducks into an empty school, and that’s when shots ring out. She seeks safety in a supply closet, only to be discovered by a stranger–with a pistol in his hand.

Esmé finds herself playing cat-and-mouse with this secretive stranger, private investigator Graydon Chase, while coping with his “other women,” his mother, lurking mobsters, and a major dose of romantic chemistry. This detecting duo dig, clash, crash, and match wits, while juggling temperamental actors, unpredictable gangsters, and a deadly virus sweeping the city. Oh, and with Esme’s life at risk from an unknown killer, she might also be trying to dodge a case of love. CROOK TALES FOR TWO is an effervescent, fun and delightful read with a stylish Nick-and-Nora vibe.

Byerrum’s previous book, THE BRIEF LUMINOUS FLIGHT OF THE FIREFLY, is the 1940s prequel to her Crime of Fashion Mysteries, and features a very young Mimi Smith, the “Great-aunt Mimi” mentioned throughout the series. FIREFLY takes place during WWII in Washington, D.C., in the hot and humid summer of 1943.

In 2020, Byerrum branched out from her comic adult mysteries with a new children’s picture book, SHERLOCKTOPUS HOLMES: EIGHT ARMS OF THE LAW. Available in hardback and trade paperback!

Told with clever rhymes and meter, this children’s picture book also includes amusing definitions of “big words” that rhyme and introduce some basic mystery concepts. It’s bright and colorful and features illustrations by talented artist Jacqueline Berkman-Glatigny.

While SHERLOCKTOPUS is a departure from her thriller, THE WOMAN IN THE DOLLHOUSE, and her Crime of Fashion Mysteries, Byerrum has been busy bringing her backlist to to publication (one more to come, VEILED REVENGE). Byerrum also writes plays under the pen name Eliot Byerrum.