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Judy Douglas Knauer

Born: 1942 in Peoria, Illinois
Pen Name: Brandy LaRue, J.D. Knauer, J Douglas Knauer

Connection to Illinois: Knauer was born in Peoria and currently resides in Livingston County.

Biography: Judy Douglas Knauer is an Illinois Press Association newspaper journalism award winner (1988-1995). During that period, she captured a total thirteen awards: eight IPA awards, including two first places for Education Reporting and Headline Writing, plus IPA awards in Feature Stories, Investigative Reporting, Newspaper Column, and Sports Feature. She also earned awards from American Publishing Company with a first place for both Hard News Story and Sports Story, plus second and third for Best Feature Photo and (another) Hard News Story, respectively. She has published magazine articles on farmsteading; a mystery to ''Over My Dead Body''’s print magazine; and her fiction entry of Page 19 of her novel BAD CATHOLICS won a spot in the Chicago Chapter of the National Writers Union 2005 Writers at Work Chapbook. Berkley/Jove purchased her romance, ''ECSTASY RECLAIMED'' by Brandy LaRue in 1983. Admittedly, not one who easily follows rules, she switched from romance to her true love: mystery writing. Currently, Amazon is selling two of her novels as e-books: ''VENDETTA''; and, ''A DIRTY WAY TO DIE'', a Manny Shepherd P.I., both under the name J. Douglas Knauer. ''A DIRTY WAY TO DIE'' is also available in print worldwide through Amazon. Her thriller novel ''BAD CATHOLICS'' was updated and released by Amazon as an e-book under the title ''THE DEVIL’S HEAT''. Judy has 4.0 GPA’s in college studies of Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation; Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation; English Composition I and II; International Business (economics) and Desktop Publishing. She is an active member of Mystery Writers of America (Midwest) and Sisters In Crime, mystery writer organizations.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Fiction; Mystery; Romance

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: jdouglas@route24.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/judydouglasknauer
Website: http://www.suspenseiskillingme.net
Judy Douglas Knauer on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=judy+douglas+knauer


Selected Titles

  A dirty way to die :
ISBN: 1477519815 OCLC: 1038789072

"You think you’ve got problems? Doc Goold calls it cognizant premonition triggered by causal hypersensitivity, but Manny Shepherd and his Vietnam vet buddy Steve Mallinotti call it Shepherd’s Luck, that time-proven knack to sense bad shit lurks just around the corner. Manny felt the premonition slump into his gut minutes before he witnesses Steve’s girlfriend Rita Hayward get slammed in the mud to her death by a well-stacked gal dubbing herself Screaming Eagle. Mired in shock, guilt and a drunken haze, Steve coerces Manny, who has little on his Private Investigator’s plate, to figure out why Rita died like that with them and a SRO crowd watching and cheering at Peoria’s Heart of Illinois fair. After all, back in earlier days at Neelys Landing, Missouri, Rita reigned as a star gymnast. So how could a simple Judo throw have killed her? No way will Manny jeopardize his tenuous yet sensual relationship with Tazewell County’s District Attorney, Lisa Shelton, to hang around half-naked, oiled-bodied beauties with names like Virgin Witch, Passion Queen, Midnight Fire, and Holy Terror, just to expose the obvious – Princess Lay-ya aka Rita Hayward just took a bad…okay, seriously bad header. Steve’s heart-tugging story of Rita’s journey to professional mud wrestler fame, and haunted by Rita’s single staring dead eye watching him, Manny takes the leap onto the St. Louis Slingers on-tour bus. Shepherd’s Luck bites hard amidst boobs and bullets as Manny is targeted while he hunts down a scheming, sadistic killer"--Amazon.com.

Bad catholics :
ISBN: 1592860257 OCLC: 145063634

PublishAmerica, Baltimore : ©2003.

World-renowned racecar driver Clay Taggart needed a win at this charity race, a chance to turn his luck around. But his discovery and destruction of raw cocaine hidden in a hollowed out compartment of his racer's radiator slams him up against international drug dealers and pornography lords. They demand he pay them for their loss, though he is unaware the monies used to make the deal were "borrowed" from St. Mary's Cathedral and must be paid back before the Bishop returns from Rome. When he ignores the criminals' demands, he and those he loves are forced onto a brutal roller coaster ride of fear. At the root of it all is the empirical visiting priest from Italy who still hears Mussolini's orders in his head, and a dangerous woman hooked on lust, drugs and revenge who will not stop, even at murder. As he dodges the police looking for him in a murder and kidnapping investigation, Taggart, with the blessings of a good priest, races to rescue his soul mate, the beautiful Ashley James, no matter what it takes.

  Ecstasy reclaimed /
ISBN: 0515068616 OCLC: 16974720

Berkley, New York : 1983.

 

 

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