Mystery Writer Sue Grafton

Sue Taylor Grafton was born on April 24, 1940. Her father is C.W. Grafton who is an attorney and a mystery writer. Sue Grafton has one sister and they grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. Grafton attended the University of Louisville, Western Kentucky State Teachers College and graduated in 1961. Her degree was in English Literature.

Humanities and the Fine Arts were her minors. After college she held positions of cashier, medical secretary and admissions clerk. At the age of 18 Grafton started writing novels and it took her four years to complete her first novel. Grafton completed seven novels but only two of these were published so she turned to screenwriting. Grafton spent fifteen years writing for television and earned a Christopher Award in 1979 for one of her screen plays.

After a divorce and long six year battle for custody of her child, Grafton turned her vivid fantasies of how she would kill or maim her ex-husband into mystery writing. After Grafton completed her novel “G is for Gunshoe,” she quite screenwriting and concentrated on her novels. Grafton’s novel series are published in 28 countries. Her novels are in 26 languages which also include Bulgarian, Indonesian and Estonian.

Not wanting to work with Hollywood again, Grafton has refused to sell the rights to her books for television and movies. She has been the recipient of three Shamus Awards, the YWCA Lexington Smith-Breckinridge Distinguished Woman of Achievement Award, The Ross Macdonald Literary Award and the Cartier Dagger by the British Crime Writers Association. Grafton’s “B” and “C” novels won Anthony Awards.