Sue Grafton was born in Louisville, Kentucky on April 24, 1940. She received a B.A. in English literature from the University of Louisville in 1961. While working days as a medical secretary, she spent her nights, after her children went to sleep, writing her first novels Keziah Dane, which was published in 1967 and The Lolly-Madona War, which was published in 1969. Her career took off when A Is for Alibi was published in 1982 and received the Mysterious Stranger Award. This was the beginning of the Kinsey Millhone Mystery series. B Is for Burglar won the Shamus and Anthony Awards and C Is for Corpse won the Anthony Award. She also received the Cartier Diamond Dagger, the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bouchercon, and the Ross Macdonald Literary Award. She has also spent over 15 years writing television and movie screenplays and has collaborated with her third husband, Steven F. Humphrey, on such works as the Agatha Christie adaptations: A Caribbean Mystery and Sparkling Cyanide.