Katherine Bennett

Katherine Bennett is the author of the Heartland to Hometown Mysteries, a series featuring journalist-sleuth Leni Spencer and stories rooted in small towns, close communities, and the long shadows of buried secrets. She is also the founder of Heartland to Hometown Press, created to provide a thoughtful, independent home for her fiction as the series continues to grow.

A graduate of Illinois State University, Katherine studied writing under Pulitzer-nominated author Paul J. Gillette. Before turning her full attention to fiction, she founded Rockbridge Publishing, building a catalog of more than two dozen Civil War titles before selling the company to a commercial publisher.

Over the years, she has worn many hats—teacher, administrator, stained-glass artist, publisher, and headhunter—and even spent a decade arranging charter flights for international golf travelers. She has lived in five states, including several memorable years aboard a 46-foot Chris-Craft yacht in Newport Beach Harbor.

Now retired in the Chicago area, Katherine draws on a lifetime of experiences to shape authentic characters, richly layered settings, and mysteries grounded in human connection. When she’s not writing, she enjoys history, genealogy, cooking, gardening, word games, and British television—and remains happily curious about modern technology, especially when Alexa can explain it.