About

A woman in a black sheer outfit holds a dagger, gazing thoughtfully at a gold-painted map behind her. The dramatic setting adds intrigue.

Eva Montealegre

Eva Montealegre is a crime writer known for her deeply researched, character-driven novels. She began her career as a historical researcher for the Department of Defense, where her work on The Shaping of America focused on overlooked contributors to U.S. history. That foundation in archival research continues to inform her fiction.

Her crime writing is shaped by extensive field research, including interviews with homicide detectives, coroners, and formerly incarcerated individuals. This firsthand exposure gives her work a grounded sense of realism and psychological depth.

Montealegre grew up in St. Louis, where her early life unfolded around her father’s showboat restaurant, The River Queen. The experience immersed her in a world of politics, music, conversation, and storytelling. Her mother, a journalist, further exposed her to the city’s contrasts—social, economic, and cultural—which later became an undercurrent in her writing.

She is the creator of the Red Carpet Noir series, featuring investigator Joan Lambert, a sharp, uncompromising protagonist navigating power, corruption, and ambition. Montealegre’s work blends suspense with close observation, earning recognition for its authenticity and craft.

An older man with a beard stands aboard a ship, holding onto rigging against a clear blue sky, highlighting maritime life and craftsmanship.

A person in an orange jacket and white beanie stands facing a black crow perched on a stone wall, surrounded by greenery.

A man in a sweater and cap stands on a trail with a black dog, surrounded by greenery and hills under a blue sky. They appear to be enjoying a hike.

David Carmichael

David Carmichael is a historical novelist whose trilogy, A World Lit by Fire, is set between 1485 and 1495 in England and Italy. It is bookended by the Battle of Bosworth and the Battle of Fornovo. The series will continue on to North Africa and from there to the rest of the planet in the late 15^th and early 16^th century.

David is meticulous in his research aspiring to create the feeling of being alive in those places and that time period. Of course, his fictional characters operate by their own set of rules within the political intrigues and cultures they inhabit.

A World Lit by Fire was finished at the end of 2024, but he and his wife lost everything in the southern California wildfires of January 2025 and spent most of that year in survival mode. They and their Labrador settled in Southwestern Pennsylvania near David’s childhood home, strangely enough.

A significant crime novel by Eva Montealegre

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