Jennifer K. Morita spent the first six months of the pandemic purging and baking with the rest of the world before giving her lifelong pipedream of being a mystery author a chance. She wrote while the California wildfires burned and her kids Zoomed through school, figuring she had nothing to lose – not even time.

Jennifer signed with literary agent Lori Galvin in 2021 and spent the next two years revising her manuscript.

GHOSTS OF WAIKĪKĪ will be released by Crooked Lane Books in November 2024.

Jennifer is a former newspaper reporter, who juggled freelance jobs with being a stay-at-home mom for several years before becoming a writer for the communications department at a local university.

Her first short story, “Cranes in the Cemetery” was published in the Capitol Crimes 2021 Anthology Cemetery Plots of Northern California.

In 2022 she was a runner up for the Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland Award.

Jennifer is a past president of her local Sisters in Crime chapter and continues to serve on the board. She is a member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers.

When she isn’t writing, reading or pushing Girl Scout cookies, she enjoys watching British mysteries, cooking and baking. Her favorite shows are “Kim’s Convenience”, “Unforgotten”, “Top Chef” and “The Great British Bake Off.”

Aside from leisurely hikes with her family, Zumba and Hot Hula are the only forms of exercise she willingly participates in.

Jennifer lives in California with her husband and two daughters.