Cheryl A. Head

I live, and write, in Washington, DC. At the core, my writing includes broad themes of diversity. I'm a huge fan of British mysteries on PBS. I love research that takes me deep into the rabbit hole.

My first book, Long Way Home: A World War II Novel, draws on all my experiences and observations about ambition, race, class and "dreams deferred", and was a double finalist (Historical Fiction; African American Literature) in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

I'm the author of The Charlie Mack Motown Mystery series for Bywater Books. There are six books in the series: Bury Me When I'm Dead (Lambda Literary Award finalist), Wake Me When It's Over (2019 Detroit Public Library African American Book List), Catch Me When I'm Falling (2020 Next Generation Indie Book Award-Mystery finalist), Judge Me When I'm Wrong (2020 Goldie Winner-Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award), Find Me When I'm Lost (Lambda Literary Finalist), and Warn Me When It's Time (June 2021) which the New York Times calls "chilling and prescient".

My upcoming crime fiction novel (based on my family story) looks at a 90-year old homicide: the police shooting of a black man in Birmingham, Alabama in 1929.