Minerva Koenig (born 1960) is an American author based in Texas who writes the Julia Kalas mystery series, published by St. Martin's Minotaur. Kalas is a short, rotund mafia widow of mixed ethnicity in her late 30s who is sent to the fictional small town of Azula, Texas, by the

United States Federal Witness Protection Program The United States Federal Witness Protection Program (WPP), also known as the Witness Security Program or WITSEC, is a witness protection program codified through 18 U.S. Code § 3521 and administered by the United States Department of Justic ...

after her husband is killed by the

Aryan Brotherhood The Aryan Brotherhood (AB or The Brand) is a neo-Nazi prison gang and an organized crime syndicate that is based in the United States and has an estimated 15,000–20,000 members both inside and outside prisons. The Southern Poverty Law Center ...

. ''Nine Days'', the first book in the series, was released in September 2014. ''South of Nowhere'' was released in February 2016, and was included in

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

's "Checklist" of recommended books for February 2016. Koenig's work often addresses issues of feminism, racism, and Texas border politics. She has appeared at a number of book festivals including the

Texas Book Festival The Texas Book Festival is a free annual book festival held in downtown Austin, Texas. The festival takes place each fall in October or November and includes programming for children and adults. It is one of the largest and most critically acc ...

. Koenig was born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

and grew up in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

. She is an architect.

References

External links

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Minerva Koeng
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Koenig, Minerva 21st-century American women writers 1960 births Living people Writers from Austin, Texas Writers from Berkeley, California Writers from Galveston, Texas Architects from Texas American women architects 21st-century American architects