Janet Kole

Janet Kole graduated from Bryn Mawr College before going on to receive her master’s from New York University and her law degree from Temple University’s James Beasley School of Law. She has written many books and articles on legal issues but has been a fan of mystery fiction her whole life, especially the works of Agatha Christie and Robert Parker. She practiced law for 30 years with both large law firms and for five years, her own environmental law boutique. She started writing stories for her family at age 5. As a teenager, she wrote press releases for the local 4H club. She started publishing her work in The Bergen Record in the 1960s, as a feature reporter for the newspaper. She wrote for Ms. Magazine, New Times, Penthouse, and Harper’s Bazaar before becoming a lawyer. For years, she had a column on women and the law in Harper’s Bazaar. She has also written guides for young lawyers—Chasing Paper, Pleading Your Case, A Brief Guide to Brief Writing, and Avoiding Bad Depositions, which were published by ABA Publishing. Her first book, Suggestion of Death, was published last year.

Ms. Kole retired as a lawyer in 2010. Her new career as a writer is keeping her busy, which means that she doesn’t get out to play golf as much as she thought she would. She loves her family and boats. She tries to stay warm by spending the winters in Florida. She lives part-time in Pennsylvania and Maryland.