Patricia Raybon
A newspaper journalist right out of the gate, Patricia turned to writing historical mystery novels during the pandemic and hasn't looked back. Her first fiction is the award-winning Annalee Spain Mystery series whose debut, “All That Is Secret,” won a Christy Award for First Novel. The series' second installment, “Double the Lies,” won the Christianity Today Book Award for Fiction. Third in the series, “Truth Be Told,” is set to release in June 2024.
"It's something special," says NBA star Steph Curry about the Annalee story. Others agree. "Brava, Patricia. It is captivating." (Jerry B. Jenkins) "Rich with romance and spiritual searching." (Sujata Massey) "A fast-moving mystery.” (Publishers Weekly) “Not only a good mystery, but a realistic insight into the African American experience in the 1920s in the West.” (Rhys Bowen)
Patricia cut her writing teeth in high-pressure newsrooms and won multiple awards for feature writing during her years at The Denver Post and later at the Scripps Howard newspaper in Denver, the Rocky Mountain News. Mid-career she taught print journalism for 15 years to bright graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Now writing full-time, she is a regular contributor to Our Daily Bread and, in addition to writing historical mysteries, is author of two notable memoirs, “My First White Friend,” a winner of the Christopher Award and a Books for a Better Life Award, and “I Told the Mountain to Move: Learning to Pray So Things Change,” a Book of the Year finalist in Christianity Today’s Book Awards. Patricia was also inducted into the Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame.
A lifelong Colorado resident, Patricia is mom to two grown daughters, a “Grammy” to five grandchildren, mother-in-law to one “son,” and the wife of 48 years to her husband Dan Raybon, a retired educator. Patricia and Dan share a passion for movies, popcorn, college hoops, and historical dramas and mysteries on Masterpiece on PBS.
Join her on the journey at her Reader’s Circle at patriciaraybon.com and get her free prayer download, “The Busy Person’s Guide to Hearing God.”
“It doesn't matter that nobody sees your face or knows your name, my wide eyed child, my father said to me. You know it. You be it.You are.”
“Get close enough to someone and his or her halo slips--not because they're bad, but because they're mortal.”
“Faith doesn't have to be much. Not any bigger than a mustard seed... That small. Only that much faith you'll need in me, God says, because I am so big. I am the Great I Am. So have faith in me.”