Ann B. Ross is an American author noted for her series of ''New York Times'' bestsellers set in her home state of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

This comedic

cozy mystery Cozy mysteries (also referred to as cozies) are a sub-genre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur offstage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small socially-intimate community. Cozies thus s ...

series features Miss Julia, whose name appears at the beginning of each title in the series. Ross also taught literature and humanities at the

University of North Carolina at Asheville The University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNC Asheville, UNCA, or simply Asheville) is a Public university, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts university in Asheville, North Carolina, United States. UNC Asheville ...

Early life

Ross was born January 28, 1934 in Austell, Georgia. She attended Blue Ridge Community College and Armstrong College before completing her B.A. in literature at the

in 1984, while her children were also at university. She earned an MA and Ph.D. in Old English from the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

(UNC) in 1991.

Career

Ross began her publishing career in the early 1980s with two paperback murder mysteries: ''The Murder Cure'' published in 1978 and ''The Murder Stroke'' published in 1981. They "didn't do very well" and she gave up on writing. While a graduate student, she wrote ''The Pilgrimage'', an adventure story about two North Carolina sisters who go west in the 19th–century as missionaries.

Doris Betts Doris Betts (June 4, 1932 – April 21, 2012) was a short story writer, novelist, essayist and Alumni Distinguished Professor Emerita at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was the author of three short story collections and six novels ...

, a novelist and creative writing professor at UNC, put Ross in touch with agent Rhoda Weyr, who read ''The Pilgrimage'' and sold it to

MacMillan Press Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains offi ...

in 1988. However, sales were again limited. After 1991, Ross transitioned to a career as a university instructor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, when Miss Julia just "came into her head." Ross said, “For the first time in my life, I was no one’s daughter, niece, wife, or mother. I was just Ann, and my identity came from my classroom performance alone. ...It was absolutely liberating.” The fictional Miss Julia (aka Mrs. Wesley Lloyd Springer), is "a refined Southern woman" whose life is disrupted by the secrets of her deceased husband. Ross writes from Miss Julia's perspective. Despite the prediction of an editor at William Morrow "that her audience would be limited to women over forty in the Southeastern United States," the first book in the series, ''Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind'', sold well and went through six printings its first year. The Independent Booksellers Association ranked number nine on its list of recommended books for the year. It also was named to the

Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

Discover Great New Writers list."

Reader's Digest Condensed Books ''Reader's Digest Condensed Books'' was a series of hardcover anthology collections, published by the American general interest monthly family magazine ''Reader's Digest'' and distributed by direct mail. Most volumes contained five (although a ...

issued the book in twelve different languages." The novels' plots often depend on points of North Carolina

state law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...

to do, for example, with

inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

, mental competence, and a mother's fitness to care for her child (as in ''Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind'' and ''Miss Julia Takes Over''). One of the common themes in the series is hypocrisy among the clergy. The Miss Julia series is popular among

book clubs Book club may refer to: * Book discussion club, a group of people who meet to discuss a book or books that they have read ** Literature circle, a group of students who meet in a classroom to discuss a book or books that they have read * Book sale ...

in the United States and is also successful in Germany, Japan, and Poland. Ross is particularly proud of a fan letter from

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...

. In 2017 ''Miss Julia Inherits a Mess'' was nominated for a

Southern Book Prize Southern Book Prize (formerly the SEBA Book Award and SIBA Book Award) is a literary award given by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA). It was first awarded in 1999.Summer, Bob (1999). "SEBA presents first book awards." ''Publishe ...

by the Southern Independent Booksellers Association. When Ross wrote ''Miss Julia Goes Rogue'' featuring the same character as a brutal and sexy vampire, "Ross’ publisher, unwilling to upset the original Miss Julia brand, refused to green-light the project." Journalists at a newspaper in western North Carolina included Ross along with

Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. He first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1985–1993), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in ...

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks a ...

, and

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Will ...

in a spoof of

crowd-sourced Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digit ...

funding campaigns to get this novel published. In 2021, Ross ended the 22-volume series with ''Miss Julia Happily Ever After.''“ Ross said, "As I wrote ''Happily Ever After'', a series of changes in my personal and professional lives were converging in such a way that I began to feel that somebody was trying to tell me something. Miss Julia and the ones she loves are in a good place right now, nothing that needs to be wrapped up is pending, most questions have been answered, no one is languishing in jail ndeverybody is home where they’re supposed to be, so it all felt like a good place to just let go.” Columbia Tri-Star Productions has optioned ''Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind'', and it is under consideration to be independently produced as either a film or television series.

Personal life

Ross married Dr. Marion Ross. The couple has two daughters and one son. Ross lives in

Hendersonville, North Carolina Hendersonville is a city in and the county seat of Henderson County, North Carolina, United States, located south of Asheville, North Carolina, Asheville. Like the county, the city is named for 19th-century North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Jus ...

, the basis for the town in the Miss Julia books. Until 1977, they lived in a historical house built in 1836 that inspired Miss Julia's house. In 2010 UNC-Asheville honored her as a Distinguished Alumna for her career as a novelist. She died April 16, 2025 at her home in Hendersonville, NC.

Publications

Novels

*''The Murder Cure'' (

Avon Books Avon Publications is a leading publisher of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reaching and ma ...

, 1978) *''The Murder Stroke'' (Nordon Publications, 1981) *''The Pilgrimage'' (

Macmillan Publishing Company Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...

, 1987) *''Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind'' ( William Morrow, 1999) *''Miss Julia Takes Over'' (Viking, 2001) *''Miss Julia Throws a Wedding'' (Viking, 2002) *''Miss Julia Hits the Road'' (Viking, 2003) *''Miss Julia Meets Her Match'' (Viking, 2004) *''Miss Julia's School of Beauty'' (Viking, 2005) *''Miss Julia Stands Her Ground'' (Viking, 2006) *''Miss Julia Strikes Back'' (Viking, 2007) *''Miss Julia Paints the Town'' (Viking, 2008) *''Miss Julia Delivers the Goods'' (Viking, 2009) *''Miss Julia Renews Her Vows'' (Viking, 2010) *''Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle'' (Viking, 2011) *''Miss Julia to the Rescue'' (Viking, 2012) *''Miss Julia Stirs Up Trouble'' (2013) *''Miss Julia's Marvelous Makeover'' (Viking, 2014) *''Etta Mae's Worst Bad–Luck Day'' (Viking, 2014) *''Miss Julia Lays Down the Law'' (Viking, 2015) *''Miss Julia Inherits a Mess'' (Viking, 2016) *''Miss Julia Weathers the Storm'' (Viking, 2017) *''Miss Julia Raises the Roof'' (Viking, 2018) *''Miss Julia Takes the Wheel'' (Viking, 2019) *''Miss Julia Knows a Thing or Two'' (Viking, 2020) *''Miss Julia Happily Ever After'' (Viking, 2021)

Novelette

* ''Miss Julia's Gift'' (Viking, 2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Ann B. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of North Carolina at Asheville alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Writers of American Southern literature University of North Carolina at Asheville faculty People from Hendersonville, North Carolina American mystery writers Writers from North Carolina