Joseph E. Wright was born and educated in New England. He grew up addicted to the British cozies of Christie and Sayres and the American counterparts of Queen and Stout. He was a fan of the films noir of Hammett and Chandler. His first published novel, MEMORANDUM OF A MURDER (Manor Books) confirmed his determination to become a writer. A short story of his appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. While trying to write, Joe earned his living as editor for a couple of monthly magazines. In one period of his life, he lived in a gloomy, rambling, nineteenth century rectory in downtown Philadelphia. The dark paneled walls, the wide staircase, the sounds in the night, the people who warndered in and out, inspired his TALES FROM THE WRECKTORY. Joe has published a trilogy of cozies recounting the amateur sleuthing of Pat Montgomary and Phillis Toner. The first book, THE BODIES OUT BACK, starts this pair off on their new career as detectives when they discover the body of Pat’s next-door neighbor. In their second, they rush off to the seashore when they get a call for help from one of Pat’s early school teachers, hoping to prevent a crime in MURDER IN MARIS COVE. When an elderly cleric tell them of the strange happenings in the middle of the night in an old rectory in downtown Philadelphia, they are faced with catching someone who commits murder in a church in AISLE OF THE DEAD. His most recent novel, GERALDINE HOUGH'S VERY FIRST MURDER, introduces a middle-aged female sleuth who readily admits she is a hopeless snoop and has finally gotten her p.i. license. Gerry is not above stretching the truth when the end she has in mind requires it.
