Joan Strobel is a chemical engineer with a lifelong interest in espionage and political-intrigue novels. She is an avid student of languages and a lover of the nuance of language. She’s fascinated by our abundance of idioms and slang expressions that can be a source of funny misunderstandings for the uninitiated foreigner. Joan thrives on action and adventure—she’s sky-dived, backpacked across the Brooks Range in Alaska, and has a first ascent of an Alaskan peak.

Joan’s novels provide a fresh take on the intrigue genre. Her books utilize actual events, people, and locales, because she believes that the more real a novel reads, the more spine-tingling it is. Joan lives with her husband, Mark, in Saint Paul, Minnesota.