Paula L. Woods is the author of STORMY WEATHER (2001), the second novel in the Charlotte Justice series. INNER CITY BLUES (1999), the first Charlotte Justice mystery, was on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list for three weeks and as named by the newspaper as one of the Best Novels of 1999. INNER CITY BLUES received the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery, was named Best First Novel by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, and was nominated for the Edgar and Anthony awards for best first mystery novel.

Paula is also the editor of the critically acclaimed anthology SPOOKS, SPIES, AND PRIVATE EYES: BLACK MYSTERY, CRIME, AND SUSPENSE FICTION OF THE 20TH CENTURY (1995), which was nominated for an Anthony Award, Macavity Award, and received a special award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

She and Felix H. Liddell are also the authors/editors of the best-selling I, TOO SING AMERICA: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN BOOK OF DAYS (1992), as well as MERRY CHRISTMAS, BABY: A CHRISTMAS AND KWANZAA TREASURY (1996), and I HEAR A SYMPHONY: AFRICAN AMERICANS CELEBRATE LOVE (1994), the latter of which won Fiction Honors from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Multicultural Literature.

A member of the National Book Critics Circle, she reviews books regularly for the Los Angeles Times. Her writing has also appeared in Essence, Emerge, and Mary Higgins Clark Mystery magazines as well as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Dallas Morning News, among other newspapers.

Paula is a member of Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, and Sisters in Crime. She has also served as an Edgar judge, on the Author Committee of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and speaker at the festival.

A native of Los Angeles, Paula's lifelong love of books has resulted in the growth of her personal library to over 1,000 volumes.