Victoria Thompson (born Victoria Ellen Straface, July 25, 1948 – August 23, 2024) was an American author of

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 ...

novels.

Biography

Thompson was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, on July 25, 1948. She received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in English and Secondary Education from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in 1970. She then earned a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in Writing Popular Fiction from

Seton Hill University Seton Hill University is a private Catholic university in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally a women's college, it became a coeducational university in 2002 and enrolls about 2,200 students. History The school was founded i ...

in 2012. Thompson lived with her husband near

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. She had two adult daughters who are both writers, and three grandchildren. Thompson died at her home in

Long Grove, Illinois Long Grove is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, approximately away from and a northwest suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,366. The village has strict building ordinances to preserve its "country atm ...

, on August 23, 2024, at the age of 76.

Career

Thompson began her career writing historical romance novels in the 1980s. In 1996, her publisher let her go, and her agent encouraged her to try writing mysteries. When Thompson heard

Berkley Books Berkley Books is an American imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein owned by the Penguin Group unit of Penguin Random House. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Compa ...

was looking for a writer for a series set in turn of the 20th century

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with a midwife heroine, so she wrote a proposal adding a detective character, and was hired to write the Gaslight Mystery series. Thompson felt it was kismet because she loves history, and she had fallen in love with

, and

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

in particular, when her daughter attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. At that time, Thompson was working as a fundraiser for the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to co ...

, and several of the volunteers she worked with were midwives. Along with writing, Thompson was a professor in the creative writing Master of Fine Arts program at

from 2000-2023. She also served on the

Board of Trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

for the Vernon Area Public Library in

Lincolnshire, Illinois Lincolnshire is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is a northern suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 7,940. Named after Lincolnshire, England, the village was incorporated on August 5, 1957, from the u ...

from 2019-2024. Many of her former students have become published authors, including V.M. Burns. Thompson also taught for a time in the continuing education program at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

Awards and achievements

Source: In 2012, Thompson received a Career Achievement Award from ''

Romantic Times ''Romantic Times'' was an American magazine, genre magazine specializing in romance novels. It was founded as a newsletter in 1981 by Kathryn Falk. The initial publication took nine months to create and was distributed to 3,000 subscribers. In ...

'' magazine. In 2016, she was Guest of Honor at

Malice Domestic The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no expli ...

mystery fan convention.

Selected publications

Novels

Gaslight Mystery Novels

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Counterfeit Lady Novels

* * * * * * *

Novellas

Nonfiction

References

External links

Official website

Penguin Random House Author Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Victoria 1948 births 2024 deaths 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers University System of Maryland alumni Seton Hill University alumni Writers from Washington, D.C.