Leslie Karst is the Agatha, Lefty, and Macavity Award-nominated author of the Orchid Isle Mysteries, the Sally Solari culinary mysteries; and the IBPA Benjamin Franklin and IPPY award silver medal-winning memoir JUSTICE IS SERVED: A TALE OF SCALLOPS, THE LAW, AND COOKING FOR RBG. After years waiting tables and singing in a new wave rock band, she decided she was ready for a “real” job and ended up at Stanford Law School. It was during her career as an attorney that Leslie rediscovered her youthful passion for food and cooking and once more returned to school—this time to earn a degree in culinary arts. Now retired from the law, in addition to writing, Leslie spends her time cooking, cycling, gardening, and observing cocktail hour promptly at five o’clock. She and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Hilo, Hawai‘i and Santa Cruz, California.