Alicia Beckman
AUTHOR

Alicia Beckman

Literature & Fiction | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
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Alicia Beckman is the alter ego of Leslie Budewitz, three-time Agatha Award winner and bestselling author of the Spice Shop and Food Lovers’ Village mysteries, as well as historical short stories. Alicia writes standalone moody suspense. beginning with BITTERROOT LAKE (2021) and continuing with BLIND FAITH (2022). A photograph. A memory. A murdered priest. A passion for justice. A vow never to return. Two women whose paths crossed in Montana years ago discover they share keys to a deadly secret that exposes a killer—and changes everything they thought they knew about themselves. Leslie's latest cozy is TO ERR IS CUMIN (2024), the 8th Spice Shop mystery. When Seattle Spice Shop owner Pepper Reece finds a large amount of cash stuffed in an old chair, she investigates—never suspecting a wingback will set her off on a trail of deception, embezzlement, and murder, and put her own life in danger. Her newest book is ALL GOD’S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, historical short mysteries imagining the life and heart of Mary Fields (1832-1914), a real-life woman born into slavery who spent her last 30 years in Montana, where she found freedom and community, and her own place in the West, bringing solace and justice to those in need – BLIND FAITH is a standalone, my first novel set largely in my hometown of Billings, Montana, and involves a contemporary cold-case investigation and a historical story that spans more than thirty years. It explores identity, as most of my books do, along with memory, revenge, justice, friendship, and family. It was challenging to write—at one point, my office closet doors were covered in sticky notes in three different colors—but I love how it turned out, and I hope you will, too. And on a more playful note, it's been a delight to return to the Spice Shop, a fictional shop in Seattle’s very real Pike Place Market, a place I fell in love ages ago as a college freshman. I made it my mission to eat my way through the place, and since it’s constantly changing, I’ll never be done! I'm thrilled to have been able to indulge my love for my native Montana and its always surprising history in ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES. The title story, set in Montana Territory in 1885, won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. I’m also the author of the Food Lovers' Village Mysteries, set in fictional Jewel Bay, Montana. DEATH A DENTE, first in the series, won the 2013 Agatha Award for Best First novel. The first of my three Agatha teapots came in 2011 for Best Nonfiction for BOOKS, CROOKS & COUNSELORS: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law & Courtroom Procedure, drawing on my long legal career. My books and short stories have also won or been nominated for Derringer, Anthony and Macavity awards. As a lawyer, I’ve represented individuals seeking damages for terrible wrongs, employers looking to do the right thing, and clients ranging from commercial fishermen to radio stations and even a major league baseball team. Currently, I handle mediations and help lawyers in over their heads. I’m a past president of Sisters in Crime and a former regional and national board member of Mystery Writers of America. I love to cook, eat, hike, travel, garden, and paint—not necessarily in that order. My husband Don Beans, a doctor of natural medicine, our gray tuxedo cat, an avid bird watcher, and I live in northwest Montana. For regular updates, please visit my website, and join my newsletter community for book news, a peek inside the writing life, and more, along with two free short stories. Readers are my favorite people. Drop me a line through my website or on Facebook at Leslie Budewitz & Alicia Beckman.
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