Kate Charles

{{short description|American crime writer|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Kate Charles (born 1950) is an American crime writer who lives in the United Kingdom{{cite book|author1=Edward Gorman|author2=Martin Harry Greenberg|author3=Larry Segriff|author4=Jonl Breen|title=The Fine Art of Murder: The Mystery Reader's Indispensable Companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBbngR3jMSEC|year=1995|publisher=Galahad Books|isbn=978-0-88365-910-6|page=174}} and is a British citizen.{{cite book|author1=Linda Martz|author2=Anita Higgie|title=Questions of Identity in Detective Fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwAZBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Pub.|isbn=978-1-4438-0907-8|pages=89}}

Kate Charles was born Carol Fosher in Cincinnati, the daughter of Elmer and Kathryn Fosher. Her family moved to Bloomington, Illinois, when she was 10. She graduated from Bloomington High School and went on to Illinois State University where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in library science in 1972. She then went on to earn an MA from Indiana University Bloomington. She married Rory Chase and lives in Ludlow, Shropshire, United Kingdom. She is a past Chair of the Crime Writers' Association{{cite book|title=Seven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HhuaAAAAIAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Wheaton College|page=12}} and the Barbara Pym Society. In 1996 she underwent open-heart surgery. She was elected to membership in the Detection Club in 2010. In 2012 she was awarded the George N. Dove Award by the Popular Culture Association for 'Outstanding Contribution to the Serious Study of Mystery and Crime Fiction',{{cite web|url=https://thecwa.co.uk/find-an-author/charles-kate|title=Kate Charles|website=The Crime Writers' Association|access-date=17 November 2019}} in recognition of her work as co-organiser of the annual St Hilda's (Oxford) Crime and Mystery Conference since 1994."[http://elizabethfoxwell.blogspot.com/2012/08/2012Doveawardees.html The Bunburyist: 2012 Dove Awardees: Roberts and Charles]

Charles's novels are mostly set against the background of the Church of England. Her 2005 novel, Evil Intent, was the first of her books to introduce a female Anglican priest as a central character; other series characters include solicitor David Middleton-Brown and artist Lucy Kingsley. Her novels evince a fascination with church politics.{{cite book|title=The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZojAQAAIAAJ|date=1 January 2002|publisher=Robinson|isbn=978-1-84119-287-1}}