Joan Hess is a writer and educator. She was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Hess earned a B.A. in art from the University of Arkansas in 1971 and an M.A. in education from Long Island University in 1974. For several years, Hess taught art in a private preschool. She has lectured at Southwest Missouri State University, the University of Arkansas, Rice University, and Xavier University. Hess is a former president of the American Crime Writers League and an executive vice-president of the Whimsey Foundation, an organization devoted to comedic mystery fiction. Hess is also a columnist for Mystery Scene Magazine. From 1982 to 1984, Hess wrote 10 unpublished romance novels. In 1986, Hess published Strangled Prose, which was chosen as the best first novel in the 1986 Drood Review Readers Poll and nominated for an Anthony Award. In 1988, Mischief in Maggody was nominated for a best novel Agatha Award and A Diet to Die For won the American Mystery Award for best traditional novel of 1989. A short story, "Too Much to Bare," received the Agatha Award and the McCavity Award in 1991.