J. K. Royce was born and raised in the small town of Sandusky in Michigan's Thumb. After retiring as a Michigan First Assistant Attorney General, she turned to her love of writing and authored two travel books: Traveling Michigan's Thumb and Traveling Michigan's Sunset Coast, both published by Thunder Bay Press. The Sunset Coast guide included stories about the famous and infamous with Lake Michigan ties. As she researched her travel guide, Ms. Royce asked those with whom she came in contact about people they found interesting, and who had lived along their beautiful coast. She often heard the names Carl Sandburg and Ernest Hemmingway. But another name was also repeatedly mentioned: Magdelaine La Framboise. Fascinated by the stories she heard, Ms. Royce began researching Madame La Framboise. It took several years to finish Ardent Spirit. While struggling with how to make the novel as factually correct as possible with the limited information available, Ms. Royce took a two year hiatus to write a crime thriller, PILZ. After the publication of PILZ, she returned her efforts to Ardent Spirit, which she had by then decided to write as a fictionalized biography. For her next project, she plans to write a second legal thriller picking up where PILZ left off in the life of protagonist, Casey Lawrence. Ms. Royce has authored several short stories that have appeared in magazines, anthologies, and the California Writers Club Literary Review. She and her husband Bob live in Dublin, California, but make many trips to Michigan, where a part of her heart remains.