Tami Hoag (born Tami Mikkelson; January 20, 1959) is an American
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...
, best known for her work in the
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
and
thriller
Thriller may refer to:
* Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television
** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre
Comics
* ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
genres. More than 22 million copies of her books are in print.
Biography
Hoag was born in
Cresco, Iowa
Cresco is a city in Howard County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,888 in the 2020 census, a decline from 3,905 in 2000 census. It is the county seat of Howard County.
History
Cresco was platted in 1866 at the time the railroad was e ...
and raised in the small town of
Harmony, Minnesota
Harmony is a city in Fillmore County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,020 at the 2010 census. The town bills itself as the "Biggest Little Town in Southern Minnesota" and features the largest Amish community in the state.
Hist ...
, where her father sold insurance.
[ From childhood, she knew she wanted to be a writer. "I had to spend a lot of time entertaining myself," she told an interviewer in 2016. "I found books at a really young age and fell in love with books."]
Hoag's first job after graduating from high school was in the ''La Crosse Tribune
The ''La Crosse Tribune'' is a daily newspaper published in La Crosse, Wisconsin, covering the tri-state area of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota in the United States.
The paper was first founded in 1904, following a media scandal in which existing ...
'' circulation department. Before publishing her first novel, she also worked as a photographer's assistant, trained show horses, and sold designer bathroom accessories. She married and divorced Daniel Hoag, whom she had dated in high school.[
]
Hoag began her career as an author in 1988, writing category romances for the Bantam Books Loveswept Line. After several years of success in that field, Hoag switched her focus to single-title suspense novels. She has had thirteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including five in a 20-month span. Her novel ''Night Sins'' became a TV miniseries starring Valerie Bertinelli
Valerie Anne Bertinelli (born April 23, 1960) is an American actress. She first achieved recognition as a child actress, portraying Barbara Cooper Royer on the sitcom '' One Day at a Time'' (1975–1984) for which she won two Golden Globe Award ...
and Harry Hamlin
Harry Robinson Hamlin (born October 30, 1951) is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his roles as Perseus in the 1981 fantasy film '' Clash of the Titans'' and as Michael Kuzak in the legal drama series '' L.A. Law' ...
. Hoag has been invited to do a reading at one of Barbara Bush
Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously w ...
's literacy functions.
Hoag and three other authors who made the leap from romance to thrillers at roughly the same time ( Eileen Dreyer, Elizabeth Grayson, and Kimberly Cates
Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to:
Places and historical events
Australia
* Kimberley (Western Australia)
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley
* Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania
* Kimberley, Tasmania a small town
* County of Kimberley, a ...
) have formed a group they call the Divas. The group provides support and encouragement for each other, and Hoag often thanks them in the acknowledgement section of her books.
Hoag owns horses, and often goes for a ride to combat writer's block. She has competed in dressage at a national level, but stopped competing after breaking five vertebrae in her back during a fall while trying out a horse for a friend. Hoag is fully recovered from her accident, and has returned to the competition arena. She currently lives in Malibu, California
Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Mali ...
, and Wellington, Florida
Wellington is a village just west of West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County and north of Miami. As of 2019, the city had a population of 65,398 according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, making it the most populous village in the state. It is t ...
.
Bibliography
Standalone novels
* ''McKnight in Shining Armor'' (1988, Loveswept #276), ''(2009) Reissue ''
* ''Mismatch'' (1989, Loveswept #315), ''(2008) Reissue''
* ''Sarah's Sin'' (1991, Loveswept #480)
* ''Heart of Dixie'' (1991, Loveswept #493), ''(2008) Reissue ''
* ''Taken by Storm'' (1992, Loveswept #532), ''(2007) Reissue''
* ''Still Waters'' (1992, Bantam Fanfare)
* ''The Last White Knight'' (1992, Loveswept #561)
* ''Dark Paradise'' (1994, Bantam Books)
* '' Kill the Messenger'' (2004, Bantam Books)
Oak Knoll series
* ''Deeper than the Dead'' (2009)
* ''Secrets to the Grave'' (2010)
* ''Down the Darkest Road'' (2011)
Elena Estes series
* ''Dark Horse'' (2002)
* ''The Alibi Man'' (2007)
Kovac & Liska series
* '' Ashes to Ashes'' (1999)
* '' Dust to Dust'' (2000)
* ''Prior Bad Acts'' (2006) also known as ''Dead Sky''
* ''The 1st Victim'' (2014, an e-book short story)
* ''The 9th Girl'' (2013)
* ''Cold Cold Heart'' (2015, Dutton)
* ''The Bitter Season'' (2016)
Deer Lake series
* ''Night Sins'' (1995)
* ''Guilty as Sin'' (1996)
Doucet series
* ''The Restless Heart'' (1991, Loveswept #458), ''(2007) Reissue''
* ''Lucky's Lady'' (1992)
* ''Cry Wolf'' (1993)
* ''A Thin Dark Line'' (1997)
* ''The Boy'' (2018)
* ''Bad Liar'' (2022)
Hennessy series
* ''The Trouble with J.J.'' (1988, Loveswept #253), ''(2009) Reissue''
* ''Magic'' (1990, Bantam Fanfare, also in The Rainbow Chasers series)
Lynn Shaw
* ''Straight from the Heart'' (1989, Loveswept #351), ''(2007) Reissue''
* ''Last White Knight'' (1992, Loveswept #561), ''(2008) Reissue''
Quaid Horses series
* ''Rumor Has It'' (1989, Loveswept #304), ''(2009) Reissue''
* ''Man of Her Dreams'' (1989, Loveswept #331) ''(2008) Reissue''
* ''Tempestuous'' (1990, Loveswept #434), ''(2007) Reissue''
The Rainbow Chasers series
* ''Heart of Gold'' (1990, Loveswept #393), ''(2010) Reissue''
* ''Keeping Company'' (1990, Loveswept #405), ''(2010) Reissue''
* ''Reilly's Return'' (1990, Loveswept #417), ''(2010) Reissue''
* ''Magic'' (1990, Bantam Fanfare, also in the Hennessy series)
Notes
Sources
*
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoag, Tami
Living people
1959 births
People from Malibu, California
People from Wellington, Florida
American romantic fiction writers
American thriller writers
American dressage riders
American women novelists
Women thriller writers
Women romantic fiction writers
20th-century American novelists
20th-century American women writers
21st-century American novelists
21st-century American women writers
People from Cresco, Iowa
People from Harmony, Minnesota
Novelists from Iowa
Novelists from Minnesota
Novelists from Florida
Novelists from California