E.J. Chadwell grew up in the South Bronx. As a latchkey kid, she spent most of her free time at the Mott Haven branch of the New York Public Library, where she developed a lifelong love of reading.  Her father, a postal worker, and her mother, an office worker instilled in her the value of education.  

Chadwell graduated with a post graduate degree in library science, after which she worked for more than 10 years in print and broadcast media for a major newspaper, a national television talk show and a production house where she wrote script treatments for cable shows such as A&E’s The Unexplained, American Justice, and Biography. 

She has also worked as a publicist and a freelance journalist, publishing magazine articlesbefore turning to books. A voracious reader of mysteries, Chadwell is an active member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime.