Elaine Raco Chase

Elaine Raco Chase is an American romance and mystery novelist with seventeen paperback novels and more than three million books in print, published in twenty-five countries and fifteen languages. Born in 1949, she began her writing career after early jobs in television, advertising, and government, including stints at WGY-WRGB-TV in Schenectady, Beckman Advertising in Albany, and the Narcotic Addiction Control Commission.

Her romance career took off with Rules of the Game in 1980 and continued through a long list of titles including Tender Yearnings, A Dream Come True, Designing Woman, Calculated Risk, Lady Be Bad, Special Delivery, and Dare the Devil. She has won two WaldenBook Sales Awards for top romance novel of the year, the Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award for romantic suspense, and the Affaire de Coeur Silver Pen Award for writing excellence. Her mystery and romantic suspense titles include Dangerous Places and Dark Corners.

Her nonfiction debut Amateur Detectives: A Writer's Guide to How Private Citizens Solve Criminal Cases (Writer's Digest Howdunit series, 1996), co-written with Anne Wingate, was nominated for the Agatha Christie Award for best nonfiction. The book examines how amateur sleuths actually solve crimes, the jobs and specialized knowledge that fit naturally with detective work, and the practical ground a mystery writer needs to make a non-professional investigator credible. She also edited the anthology Partners in Crime, which pairs private investigators with amateur sleuths in original short fiction by Sharyn McCrumb, Susan Dunlap, Carolyn G. Hart, and others.

Chase is a past president of Sisters in Crime International and a charter member of Romance Writers of America, and has served as a registered lecturer for Poets and Writers. She teaches writing courses and hosts the podcast Stranger Than Fiction with Elaine Raco Chase. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia.