Lori Roy

In 1965, Roy was born in Manhattan, Kansas.[1][2] She began writing while completing her high school education. For her post-secondary education, Roy completed a finance program at the University of Kansas.[3]

Following her studies, Roy was hired by Hallmark Cards and worked in accounting.[4] During the mid-1990s, Roy and her family moved from Kansas City to Tampa Bay. While in Tampa Bay, Roy ended her career and took care of her children while her husband worked.[5] For her writing career, The Chattahoochee Review included one of Roy's fictional works while she attended multiple writers conferences at Eckerd College.[6][2] As an author, Roy wrote two novels and one short story that were not released for publication.[6]

In 2011, Bent Road was the first written book by Roy that was published.[7] Cross Creek Pictures started planning out a movie adaption of Bent Road in 2012.[8] After the book release of Bent Road, Until She Comes Home came out in 2013 and Let Me Die in His Footsteps in 2015.[2] Additionally, Roy published The Disappearing in 2018 and Gone Too Long in 2019.[9] In assembled collections, Roy's short story "Chum in the Water" was part of Tampa Bay Noir in 2020.[10] The following year, Roy was featured in a 2021 Mystery Writers of America publication titled When A Stranger Comes To Town with "Do You Remember".[11]

With individual books, Roy used her short story that she did not release as the basis for Bent Road. During the two years Bent Road took from writing from publication, Roy set up social media accounts to advertise her book.[6] Bent Road took place in Kansas during the 1960s while Until She Comes Home took place during the 1950s in Detroit.[12][13] For Let Me Die in His Footsteps, Roy had her book told during the 1930s and 1950s in Kentucky.[14] In modern-day stories, Roy had The Disappearing take place in Florida while Gone Too Long occurred in Georgia.[2][15]

During the writing process for The Disappearing, Roy focused on individual characters and summarized the completed content before the book was fully written. For the topic of the book, Roy incorporated a criminal investigation at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys and killings by Ted Bundy.[2] In Gone Too Long, Roy included a short timeline of the Ku Klux Klan.[15] Her books are written in the Southern Gothic and mystery fiction genres.[16]

In 2012, Bent Road was given the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author.[17] Bent Road was also named one of the Kansas Notable Books for 2012 by the State Library of Kansas.[18] With Until She Comes Home, Roy was nominated for the 2014 Edgar Award for Best Novel.[19][20] In 2016, Roy won the Edgar Award for Best Novel with Let Me Die in His Footsteps. With her Best First Novel and Best Novel wins, Roy became the first female author to win these two Edgar Awards. She also became the third ever author to complete this Edgar Award double win.[21]