V. S. Kemanis grew up in the East Bay Area of California in a family with six amazing siblings and parents passionate about politics, social issues, theater, and music. Mealtimes were often raucous, stimulating, intellectual, and fun gatherings in a household full of family and interesting guests, musicians, actors, artists, professors, and university students.
Ms. Kemanis holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Colorado Law School, Boulder. In her legal career, she has been a criminal prosecutor of street crime and organized crime for county and state agencies, argued criminal appeals for the prosecution and defense, conducted complex civil litigation, and worked for judges and appellate courts, most recently as the supervising editor of appellate decisions.
Ms. Kemanis is also an accomplished dancer of classical ballet, modern jazz, and contemporary styles and has performed, taught, and choreographed in California, Colorado, and New York. During a wonderful time when her children were young, she took a decade hiatus from her legal career and owned and managed a popular dancewear shop.
Short fiction by Ms. Kemanis has been published in anthologies and magazines including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Crooked Road Volume 3 Anthology, The Best Laid Plans, Me Too Short Stories, and Autumn Noir, among others. She has published five collections of short fiction, including Your Pick: Selected Stories, winner of the Eric Hoffer Award for best story collection and finalist for the Montaigne Medal. Her novels of legal suspense, Thursday’s List, Homicide Chart, Forsaken Oath, Deep Zero, Seven Shadows, and Power Blind draw on her personal experience in criminal law, juggling a high-powered professional career with family obligations. Ms. Kemanis lives in New York and is a member of the New York chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.