Kathryn Casey | |
|---|---|
 Kathryn Casey at the 2009 Texas Book Festival | |
| Occupation | Crime writer, novelist |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Houston |
| Period | 1984–present |
| Genre | Crime fiction |
| Subject | True crime |
| Website | |
| www | |
Kathryn Casey is an American writer of mystery novels and non-fiction books. She is best known for writing She Wanted It All, which recounts the case of Celeste Beard, who married an Austin multimillionaire only to convince her lesbian lover, Tracey Tarlton, to kill him.
In 1980, Casey moved with her husband to Texas, where she attended the University of Houston and earned a degree in journalism.
In 1984, Casey began writing as an intern at the now-defunct Houston City Magazine. She left two years later as a senior editor. She then worked for two years as editor of Ultra, a regional magazine geared toward wealthy Texans.
Casey wrote for Ladies' Home Journal, where she was a contributing editor for 18 years,[1] as well as More (magazine), TV Guide, Rolling Stone, Seventeen, Reader's Digest, and Texas Monthly. During her years as a magazine journalist, Casey interviewed celebrities in the movie, television, and recording industry, plus presidents and first ladies. She covered subjects ranging from the Oklahoma City bombing, the aftermath of 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina, to infertility and the McCaughey Septuplets.
Casey's articles often examined sensational crimes. In the early 1990s, one case she covered for Ladies' Home Journal bout a serial rapist attacking Houston-area women, resulted in her first book, The Rapist's Wife. After its release, Casey concentrated on writing nonfiction, fact-based crime books.
Her seventh true-crime book covered the Matt Baker case in Waco, Texas, about the Baptist minister who was convicted of killing his wife and staging it to look like a suicide.[2] Baker, sentenced to 65 years, resides in the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, a Texas state prison. Cy-Fair Magazine, upon the July 2012 release of the book Deadly Little Secrets, covered the Baker case and others in a feature article about Casey.[3] The Houston Chronicle also covered the release of the book.[4] Deadly Little Secrets was the inspiration for the film Sins of the Preacher, which aired on the Lifetime television network in September 2013.[5]
Casey then turned to crime fiction. In 2009, Booklist, the publication of the American Library Association, named Casey's debut novel, Singularity, one of the "Best Crime Novel Debuts of 2009" on its Bestseller Lists.[6] The main character in her mystery series is Sarah Armstrong, a Texas Ranger and a criminal profiler. In Singularity, Armstrong travels across Texas hunting a serial killer. Library Journal picked the third in the series, The Killing Storm, as a best book of 2010 in its mystery category.[7]
Casey's 11th book, Deliver Us, released January 2015 by HarperCollins, is based on murders along the Texas Killing Fields and Interstate 45.[8] In March 2014, Elle Magazine included Casey along with Agatha Christie, Jane Smiley, Edna Buchanan, Joyce Carol Oates, Gillian Flynn, Ann Rule and others, in a list of "The Ten Best Thrillers and Crime Writing by Women."[9]
Casey was a co-founder of Women in Crime Ink, which has been described by the Wall Street Journal as "a blog worth reading."[10]
In July 2011, she wrote an article for Forbes Woman about new options available to authors with the advent of eBooks and independent publishing.[11]
Her first foray into historical fiction, released in September 2023, was Angel Falls, inspired by the life of Ruth Robertson, a photojournalist whose 1949 expedition successfully measured Angel Falls in Venezuela as the tallest waterfall in the world.[12]
Author Ann Rule called her "one of the best in the true crime genre."[13]
She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband.
In 1995, Casey appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss The Rapist's Wife along with the subject in the title, Linda Bergstrom. In the years since, Casey has appeared on Oprah Winfrey's Oxygen Network, Court TV, Biography, Nancy Grace, E! Network, Investigation Discovery and the A&E.
In October 2006, she appeared on The Montel Williams Show to discuss women who unknowingly dated wanted criminals.[14]
She appeared in ABC's 20/20 November 2022 episode "Tainted Love" about the murder of millionaire businessman Steve Beard at the hands of his younger wife Celeste Beard.[15]
Casey was featured in the 2022 Netflix documentary miniseries Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields, directed by Jessica Dimmock.[16]
She speaks at book festivals and events, including the Texas Library Association convention, Southwest Louisiana Writer's Conference, Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend book conference, and the Texas Book Festival.[17]
