18 ratings | 15 reviews | avg rating:4.94

more photos (2)

Kris Calvin’s Followers (76)

Kris’s Bookshelves

to-read (16)
currently-reading (2)
read (20)

Kris’s Friends (82)

Derik Cavignano

114 books | 26 friends

Donna Foster

2,303 books | 5,001 friends

Kat Brashears

647 books | 28 friends

June

677 books | 95 friends

Stephanie Johnson

441 books | 82 friends

Claudine Marcin

206 books | 539 friends

Bruce Anderson

34 books | 12 friends

Maya

539 books | 182 friends

More friends…

Kris Calvin

Goodreads Author

Born

Roanoke, Virginia , The United States

Website

http://www.kriscalvin.com

Twitter

kcalvinaap

Genre

Thriller, Mystery, Ebooks

Influences

Meg Gardiner, Chris Holm, Van Morrison, Tupac, Kate Atkinson, Steph Cu ...more

Member Since

February 2015

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/kriscalvin

edit data

Award-winning author Kris Calvin is a single mom of three and a former elected official who now writes mysteries and thrillers full-time. Kris’s new series features Emma Lawson, an ethics investigator, and Detective Alibi Morning Sun, who together track down corruption and killers in California's capital of Sacramento.

Note: No harm comes to children in Kris's stories.

Kris's writing has received multiple awards, including Best First Novel, Best Female Detective/Sleuth and Best Political Thriller.

Born in Virginia, Kris now lives minutes from Sacramento. She's been honored by the State Assembly and the California Governor's office for her leadership in nonpartisan advocacy on behalf of children.

John Lescroart, author of 19 New York Times bes Award-winning author Kris Calvin is a single mom of three and a former elected official who now writes mysteries and thrillers full-time. Kris’s new series features Emma Lawson, an ethics investigator, and Detective Alibi Morning Sun, who together track down corruption and killers in California's capital of Sacramento.

Note: No harm comes to children in Kris's stories.

Kris's writing has received multiple awards, including Best First Novel, Best Female Detective/Sleuth and Best Political Thriller.

Born in Virginia, Kris now lives minutes from Sacramento. She's been honored by the State Assembly and the California Governor's office for her leadership in nonpartisan advocacy on behalf of children.

John Lescroart, author of 19 New York Times bestsellers, has this to say about Kris: "Crisp and entertaining...Kris Calvin sets herself apart..."

About ALL THAT FALL:
Introducing Emma Lawson—an unlikely hero to cheer for!
The body shot and killed in the early morning hours by the Sacramento River would have been an easy case for Detective Alibi Morning Sun to solve, if only his prime suspect weren't already in jail. Across town, Emma Lawson, California's youngest lead government ethics investigator, is enjoying a rare day off to help her best friend, Kate, prepare for the opening of her new business, Rainbow Alley Preschool, when amidst a hail of gunfire, Kate’s 15-yr-old son, Luke goes missing. As Alibi gathers new evidence to determine the identity of the riverside killer and Emma desperately searches for Luke, the two investigations collide. At the heart of both is a diabolical plot with stakes Emma could never have imagined. Will Emma and Alibi be in time to to stop a calculating killer whose plan threatens all that Emma holds dear?

Jess Lourey, Amazon chart-topping author, says: "All That Fall has everything I look for in a thriller!"

About UNDER A BROKEN SKY:
In this Sacramento-set thriller perfect for fans of Meg Gardiner, ethics investigator Emma Lawson uncovers greed and deception for a living, but this time is different. If only she knew this killer can hear her. He can see her.
One year into her prized role as the youngest ethics investigator in California's history, Emma suspects corruption in the state's billion dollar expansion to train travel. That unwittingly puts her on a killer's trail—a killer who will do anything to reach his illicit million dollar payday, including personally eliminating Emma as a threat.
Detective Alibi Morning Sun sees connections where no one else does. For him, a drowning at a lake, a fire in a storage facility and a murder by the river carry a thread soaked in blood.
As Emma follows the money and Alibi traces bullets and bodies, the killer counts down to his grand finale. With each mounting danger, it quickly becomes apparent that the corruption Emma has been digging for is real— and it’s deadly.

Brianna Labuskes, best-selling author, says: "Under A Broken Sky is a suspenseful, emotional page-turner should shoot to the top of everyone’s must-read list!”
...more

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Kris Calvin questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

What inspired you to choose driving w/ cell phones as the legislative bill or the idea of profiting from prior knowledge of potential new laws? Do you see this as a series, with Mare solving more crimes, possibly using Noel's skills to assist?

Kris Calvin Hi Elizabeth,

I appreciate the questions! That said, I'm going to be a little circumspect in the first answer so that it doesn't contain spoilers.

A f…moreHi Elizabeth,

I appreciate the questions! That said, I'm going to be a little circumspect in the first answer so that it doesn't contain spoilers.

A few years ago a bill requiring that any cell phone use while driving be hands-free was enacted in California. I was peripherally involved in its passage and knew some of the conversations around research that went into the design of the bill. That experience was definitely on my mind when I developed the plot for One Murder More.

The premise of profiting from prior knowledge of potential new laws as a motive for crime is not something I've heard otherwise discussed (although it might have been). But my background includes graduate work in economics, so I am always looking for the "money" incentive/angle on things. as you know, that emerged as a core thread in this story.

This book features lobbyist/ amateur sleuth Maren Kane. I enjoyed writing about Maren and feel like I'm just getting to know her. So while this might be her only story since it stands alone, I could see treating it as a prequel to one or more later books in the thriller genre, since that is what I am interested in next!

Again, thank you for taking the time to write. I look forward to continued dialogue with you, as I hope to learn and grow as a writer.
Kris (less)

flag

3 likes · like
Comment

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Kris Calvin When I have trouble writing I stop and read a chapter by an author who I feel writes in a similar tone and with the balance of dialogue to narrative t…moreWhen I have trouble writing I stop and read a chapter by an author who I feel writes in a similar tone and with the balance of dialogue to narrative that I like. For some reason,the block eases when I expose myself to someone else successfully employing the written word to tell their story.
Author John Lescroart, author of the Dismas Hardy series, has come to my rescue this way many times.(less)

flag

2 likes · like
Comment

See all 5 answers from Kris Calvin…

Combine Editions
Kris Calvin’s books

Average rating: 3.74 · 522 ratings · 187 reviews · 5 distinct works • Similar authors

	All That Fall (Emma Lawson #1) 3.57 avg rating — 241 ratings — published 2021 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One Murder More (Maren Kane Mysteries, #1) 3.79 avg rating — 163 ratings — published 2015 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Under a Broken Sky (Emma Lawson #2) 3.98 avg rating — 93 ratings — published 2022 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Low Down Dirty Vote: A Crime Fiction Anthology by Mysti Berry (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Kris Calvin (Goodreads Author), Alison Catharine 4.57 avg rating — 14 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tinsel and Temptation 3.73 avg rating — 11 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Kris Calvin…

12 posts
Kris Calvin's Blog

Author of the Week: Jason Powell

Talent this outsized is rare, to find it on display in a debut novel rarer still, and to see it utilized in the service of an exciting and entertaining crime fiction novel with what the Sun Sentinel describes as “an appealing plot and equally pleasing characters” (instead of pummeling the reader senseless with endless gore and violence—a popular trend) is not only refreshing, but exceedingly diffi

Series by Kris Calvin

Emma Lawson (2 books)
by

Kris Calvin (Goodreads Author)

3.69 avg rating — 334 ratings

Maren Kane Mystery (1 book)
by

Kris Calvin (Goodreads Author)

3.79 avg rating — 174 ratings

Kris is Currently Reading

Kris Calvin is currently reading

Dead Game

by Kirk Russell (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Mar 07, 2015 03:39PM

Kris Calvin is currently reading

Night Game (John Marquez, #2)

by Kirk Russell (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Mar 07, 2015 03:39PM

rss
Kris’s Recent Updates

Kris Calvin wrote a new blog post Author of the Week: Jason Powell Talent this outsized is rare, to find it on display in a debut novel rarer still, and to see it utilized in the service of an exciting and entertainin Read more of this blog post »
Apr 10, 2024 06:24AM · like

More of Kris's books…

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Ladies & Literature: 80,000 page Individual Reading Challenge for 2015!	366	104	Jan 06, 2016 05:43AM
Cozy Mysteries : Title and Author game, Round 3	13653	557	Apr 03, 2017 09:53AM
Cozy Mysteries : Title and Author Game, Round 7	5584	560	Feb 22, 2022 09:26AM
Hooked on Books : 2022 impossible challenge!	140	231	Jan 05, 2023 02:42PM
Cozy Mysteries : January 2023 Mini Challenge	119	243	Feb 07, 2023 09:32PM
Cozy Mysteries : Title and Author, Round 8	4205	479	Mar 08, 2023 02:14AM
Cozy Mysteries : Seasonal Challenge: Winter 2022-2023	71	221	Apr 08, 2023 05:06PM
Crazy Challenge C...: January 2023 Scavenger challenge : M'mm, M'mm Good!	98	98	May 20, 2024 10:25PM