Nancy Pickard

Nancy Pickard – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Nancy Pickard (born September 19, 1945) is an acclaimed American crime and mystery novelist. Discover her early life, breakthrough in mystery fiction, signature series, awards, and insightful quotations.

Introduction

Nancy Pickard is a celebrated figure in American crime fiction, especially within the mystery and suspense subgenres. Beginning her published career in her late 30s, Pickard went on to write several successful mystery series (Jenny Cain, Marie Lightfoot) and standalone novels. She is distinguished not just for her prolific output, but for being the only author to win all four of the major mystery awards: the Anthony, the Agatha, the Macavity, and the Shamus.

In what follows, we trace her life, her craft, her major works, and the wisdom embedded in her words.

Early Life and Family

Nancy Pickard was born on September 19, 1945, in Kansas City, Missouri. She later earned a degree in journalism from the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Her path to fiction was not immediate: she began writing in earnest only in her mid-thirties. In her own words, her first unpublished novel “just sat there like a dead trout,” until a helpful critique about genre confusion (romantic suspense vs mystery) helped her sharpen her voice.

Pickard has lived in Kansas (Prairie Village, near Kansas City) for many years.

Writing Career & Major Works

Break into Mystery, Jenny Cain Series

Her first published novel was Generous Death (1984), launching the Jenny Cain series. That series continued through many installments, including Say No to Murder, No Body, Marriage Is Murder, Dead Crazy, Bum Steer, I.O.U., But I Wouldn’t Want to Die There, Confession, and Twilight.

In the Jenny Cain novels, Pickard often balances witty banter, interpersonal dynamics, small-town and human-scale conflicts, with the structural demands of crime puzzles. Critics have noted that her approach combines “relationships to craft a puzzle that's a joy to solve.”

Expanding into Other Series

Beyond Jenny Cain, Pickard took on other series and standalone works:

• Eugenia Potter series: In continuation of the culinary-mystery legacy of Virginia Rich, Pickard completed and extended that series with The 27-Ingredient Chili Con Carne Murders (co-written with Rich posthumously), The Blue Corn Murders, and The Secret Ingredient Murders.

• Marie Lightfoot series: This trilogy centers on a true-crime writer protagonist investigating disturbing cases: The Whole Truth, Ring of Truth, The Truth Hurts.

• Standalone novels: Her notable standalones include The Virgin of Small Plains (2006) and The Scent of Rain and Lightning (2010).

• Short stories & non-fiction: She has published many short stories (e.g. “A Man Around the House,” “Afraid All the Time,” “Dust Devil”) and co-authored Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path with Lynn Lott (2003).

Style, Themes & Literary Strengths

Nancy Pickard’s writing is often admired for:

• Character and relationships: Her mysteries are not just about the crime, but about how people relate, lie, hide motives, and betray trust.

• Blending light and darkness: She can bring wit, warmth, and intimacy, then confront moral complexity and violence.

• Strong female protagonists: Many of her central characters are women who juggle emotional life, moral decisions, and investigative resolve.

• Regional grounding: Her settings—often in Kansas, Missouri, Florida (e.g. in Marie Lightfoot)—carry local texture and atmosphere.

• Genre awareness: She is conscious of the conventions of mystery and suspense, and often plays with or bends them rather than blindly adhering to formula.

Her success across both novels and short stories, and her ability to cross between series and standalones, show her flexibility and strong narrative voice.

Awards & Recognition

Nancy Pickard’s honors are distinguished:

• She is the only author to win all four of the major mystery awards: the Anthony, Agatha, Macavity, and Shamus.

• Among her accolades:
  • Five Macavity Awards
  • Four Agatha Awards
  • An Anthony Award
  • A Shamus Award

• She has also been nominated for multiple Edgar Awards.

• She has held leadership roles in literary organizations: a board member of Mystery Writers of America, past president of Sisters in Crime, and is a member of PEN.

These awards reflect both peer recognition and the respect she holds among mystery readers and authors.

Famous Quotes by Nancy Pickard

Here are several quotes by Nancy Pickard that reveal her thoughts on writing, life, truth, and observation:

“History is the study of lies, anyway, because no witness ever recalls events with total accuracy, not even eyewitnesses.”

“It’s dangerous to start attributing your fortunes to luck and your misfortunes to fate.”

“Welcome to New York, where everybody’s a stranger, and nobody is.”

“New York was an idea, I thought, an idea held simultaneously by thirteen million people.”

“You can have faith in writing itself. That’s where to place your faith, in the same way that a pole vaulter places his faith in the laws of physics. He will go up in direct proportion to the strength with which he pushed off, and he will come down every time.”

“I love the unexplainable. It would be so boring to me if everything could be explained.”

“Being a writer — even a best-selling one — is usually not anywhere near as public as being a movie star, at least not when I’m out in ‘real life’ like this.”

These lines capture her skepticism, her reverence for nuance and mystery, and her self-awareness as a writer navigating visibility.

Lessons from Nancy Pickard

1. It’s never too late to begin. Pickard started her writing career in her mid-30s and found success through persistence and growth.

2. Learn from feedback. Her first unpublished work, once critiqued for indecision in genre, fueled her development.

3. Character matters as much as plot. In mysteries, the human relationships carry emotional weight that distinguishes the puzzle.

4. Trust your voice but respect genre. She demonstrates how one can both work within and play with mystery conventions.

5. Persevere across forms. From series to standalones, from short stories to essays, she shows versatility.

6. Truth is layered. Her quotes and fiction alike suggest that reality, memory, and perception are subject to distortion, and that mystery lies in the gaps.

Conclusion

Nancy Pickard is a vital voice in American mystery fiction: starting later than many, yet rising to the rare distinction of winning every major genre award, she blends emotional depth, clean prose, and the tension of crime storytelling. Her body of work—series and standalones alike—offers readers puzzles rooted in human complexity. Her reflections remind us that writing is as much about what we can’t fully explain as what we can articulate.

If you’d like, I can send you a more detailed reading list of Nancy Pickard’s best novels (with short summaries), or compare her to other mystery writers like Louise Penny or Louise Ure. Would you like me to do that?