Steph Cha (born 1986) is a Korean American novelist and fiction writer, who has released three novels in the crime fiction genre about her detective protagonist Juniper Song: Follow Her Home (2013), Beware Beware (2014), and Dead Soon Enough (2015). Her most recent book, stand-alone crime fiction novel Your House Will Pay (2019), won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery.

Steph Cha
Cha at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Cha at the 2019 Texas Book Festival
Born1986 (age 37–38)
OccupationWriter, novelist
NationalityAmerican
EducationStanford University
Yale Law School (JD)
GenreCrime fiction
Website
bystephcha.wordpress.com

Background

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Cha was born in Van Nuys, California in 1986.[1] She subsequently grew up in Encino, California with her mother, father and two younger brothers. She attended Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City.[2] Cha graduated from Stanford University, where she studied English and East Asian Studies, and also completed a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.[3]

Work

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Novels

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In 2013, Cha published her first Juniper Song mystery, Follow Her Home (2013) with Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin's Press and Macmillan Publishers. The book has received positive reviews from the Los Angeles Times, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Hyphen, KoreAm Journal, and other publications.[4] The sequel Beware Beware (2014) was published the following year in 2014, also by Minotaur Books.[5] The third novel in the series, Dead Soon Enough was published by Minotaur Books in 2015.[6]

Other Writing

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Cha also has published freelance book reviews and food writing for the Los Angeles Times (serving as a restaurant scout and a protégé of sorts for LA Times' Pulitzer Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold),[7] humor pieces for Trop Magazine and a short story entitled "Treasures in Heaven" in the Winter 2013 Fiction Issue of the Los Angeles Review of Books.[8][9]

Cha has also written more than 2,400 reviews on Yelp, according to a Los Angeles Times interview,[10][9] and has held the "Elite" reviewer title for more than six years in a row, according to an interview with The Rumpus.[7]

Bibliography

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Novels

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Juniper Song mysteries

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  • —— (2013). Follow Her Home (hardcover 1st ed.). Minotaur Books. pp. 1–288. ISBN 978-1250009623.
  • —— (2014). Beware Beware (hardcover ed.). Minotaur Books. pp. 1–304. ISBN 978-1250049018.
  • —— (2015). Dead Soon Enough (hardcover 1st ed.). Minotaur Books. pp. 1–292. ISBN 978-1250065315.

Other novels

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Short stories

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Awards

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Year Title Award Category Result Ref
2019 Your House Will Pay Anthony Awards Anthony–Novel Nominated [11][12][13][14]
Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist [15]
Barry Award Barry–Novel Nominated [11][16]
Dagger Award New Blood Dagger Award Nominated [11]
Lefty Award Lefty–Novel Nominated [11]
Los Angeles Times Book Prize LAT–Mystery/Thriller Won [17][18][19]
Macavity Award Macavity–Novel Nominated [11]
Young Lions Fiction Award Nominated [20][21]

References

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  1. ^ "Bio". Steph Cha Official Site.
  2. ^ Id.
  3. ^ "Authors: Steph Cha". Macmillan Publishers.
  4. ^ Macmillan Publishers, Follow Her Home, Macmillan
  5. ^ Macmillan Publishers, Beware Beware, Macmillan
  6. ^ Macmillan Publishers, Dead Soon Enough, Macmillan
  7. ^ a b Sabra Embury, THE RUMPUS INTERVIEW WITH STEPH CHA, The Rumpus, January 2, 2015, Therumpus.net
  8. ^ Steph Cha, Official Site, Bio, supra n.1
  9. ^ a b Steph Cha, Other Writing, Bystepcha.wordpress.com
  10. ^ Ivy Pochoda, Steph Cha talks about the L.A. immigrant noir of 'Dead Soon Enough', August 11, 2015, Los Angeles Times
  11. ^ a b c d e "Steph Cha". www.stopyourekillingme.com. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  12. ^ patti (2020-10-17). "2020 Anthony Awards -". Nightstand Book Reviews. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  13. ^ Glyer, Mike (2020-06-09). "2020 Anthony Award Nominees". File 770. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  14. ^ "Anthony Award Nominees 2020". poisonedpen.com. 2020-06-11. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  15. ^ "2020 PRIZE". Aspen Words. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  16. ^ patti (2020-10-17). "Barry Awards (Crime Fiction) - 2020 -". Nightstand Book Reviews. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  17. ^ "Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners Announced". Los Angeles Times. 2020-07-13. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  18. ^ "The L.A. Times announces its 2019 Book Prize finalists and a new award for science fiction". Literary Hub. 2020-02-19. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  19. ^ "Los Angeles Times Book Prizes 2019". Book Reporter. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  20. ^ "Bryan Washington Wins The New York Public Library's 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award". The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  21. ^ "NYPL 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award Finalists Announced". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2021-07-15.
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