Carolyn J. Rose grew up in New York's Catskill Mountains, the setting for her Hemlock Lake mystery trilogy. She emerged from the University of Arizona with a degree and a tan, and stayed on for graduate school. Thanks to boredom and a public service announcement on late-night TV, she abandoned literary studies for two years with Volunteers in Service to America in Little Rock. From there a series of coincidences and chance encounters led her to the land of TV news and 25 years as a researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. She's now a high school substitute teacher in Vancouver, Washington. Her subbing experiences, and her sometimes rocky relationship with the dogs in her life, led her to create the canine character Cheese Puff and the Subbing isn't for Sissies series. Other than writing, her interests are reading, swimming, walking, gardening, and NOT cooking.