About /Susan Van Kirk

Best Selling Author

My Story

I could tell you I’ve been a former CIA agent, jumped in free fall from airplanes, or explored the South Pole. But I deal in fiction. Instead, I’m a creator of crimes, a disturber of dreams, and a
seller of sleight-of-hand. In short, I’m a mystery writer. When the blowing snow, freezing sleet, and frigid temperatures of winter descend upon the Midwest, I’m sitting at my desk typing about secrets, murder, betrayal, fate, regrets, and darkness. Occasionally, I add a phrase to entice a smile … maybe in April. Mysteries are my favorite genre because their endings restore moral order to the universe. Who wouldn’t want to create that out of chaos? My favorite mystery writers are Michael Connelly, Louise Penny, Agatha Christie, Charles Finch, Sue Grafton, and Ian Rankin.

In my earlier life, I graduated from Knox College with a degree in history and University of Illinois with a graduate degree in secondary education. I taught for four decades in high school
and college. At the same time, I raised three children who now have eleven children of their own …

I am truly blessed.

{

Readers will love meeting the residents of Endurance, Illinois. Newly retired schoolteacher Grace Kimball and her intrepid friends court disaster as they investigate who is keeping a deep secret.

 Terry Shames, Author of the Samuel Craddock Mysteries

Highlights

A huge thank you to all my readers. Your encouragement keeps me writing. And a shout out to my center of the universe—small towns in the Midwest, especially my hometown area. You provide me with endless material.

Thank you!

Published Books

Happy Readers

Beloved Characters

Mysteries Solved

Proud Member:

2024 Sisters in Crime member seal
{

Suddenly everything you know about your life is wrong—and the truth is better but also shockingly worse.

 Molly MacRae, Author of the Highland Bookshop mysteries and the Haunted Yarn Shop Stories writing about A Death at Tippitt Pond.