Diane Fanning

{{short description|American crime writer and author|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Distinguish|Dakota Fanning}} {{Infobox writer  |name = Diane Fanning |image = |imagesize = |caption = |birth_name = Diane Lynn Butcher |birth_date = {{birth date and age|June 21, 1950}} |birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |occupation = Crime writer; mystery novelist |alma_mater = Perry Hall High School<br>Lynchburg College |period = 2000–present |genre = Crime fiction |subject = True crime |notableworks = ''Mommy's Little Girl'' |influences = |influenced = |awards = Edgar Award nomination |signature = |website = {{URL|http://www.dianefanning.com/}} }}

'''Diane Fanning''' (born June 21, 1950) is an American crime writer and author who writes nonfiction and mystery novels.

==Biography== Fanning was born Diane Lynn Butcher in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated from Perry Hall High School, and then Lynchburg College in Virginia, where she majored in chemistry.<ref name=about>{{cite web |url= http://dianefanning.com/about |title= About the Author |access-date= October 8, 2018 }}</ref> She and her husband live in Bedford, Virginia.<ref name=about/>

==Career== After college, she wrote for the advertising field, earning more than 70 Addy Awards for her work. During that time, she wrote as a freelance writer.

Her career shifted into nonprofit work with a move to New Braunfels, Texas. Fanning worked for fundraising groups, including Another Way Texas Shares<ref>{{cite news |first=Andrea |last=Ball |title=Charity workers also adventurers, athletes, writers |work=Austin American-Statesman |date=2005-10-16 |quote=Diane Fanning, who works with the nonprofit fundraising group Another Way Texas Shares, spends her time writing true crime books. }}</ref> and the National Association for Choice in Giving. She began her first book while living in Texas. She is co-founder of Women in Crime Ink,<ref>[https://www.womenincrimeink.blogspot.com/ Contributor, Women in Crime Ink]</ref> described by ''The Wall Street Journal'' as "a blog worth reading."<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203771904574173874199242710 ''The Wall Street Journal'' article featuring Women in Crime Ink]</ref>

In 2002, Fanning corresponded with serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells, who, in a letter to her, confessed to murdering 10-year-old Joel Kirkpatrick, whose mother had been convicted of killing her son. According to the Innocence Project, Fanning's testimony before a prison review board about the letter and her book ''Through the Window'', which details Sells' crime spree, were said to help prove Harper's innocence.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-3319-the-end.html |title=The end |publisher=Illinois Times |date=2006-08-10 |last=Rhodes |first=Dusty |access-date=2010-09-22 |archive-date=2012-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518110119/http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/article-3319-the-end.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2011, Fanning was given the Defenders of the Innocent Award by the Illinois Innocence Project for getting the confession from Sells.<ref>[http://events.uis.edu/2011/04/downstate-illinois-innocence-project-at.html Downstate Illinois Innocence Project site, "Events," April 25, 2011]</ref>

In 2006, her book ''Written in Blood'' received an Edgar Award nomination.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://voices.yahoo.com/2006-edgar-allan-poe-awards-36357.html?cat=38 |title=Edgar Award nomination |access-date=2014-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106060727/http://voices.yahoo.com/2006-edgar-allan-poe-awards-36357.html?cat=38 |archive-date=2014-01-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Fanning has been interviewed for CBS's "48 Hours Mystery" in November 2009 and Investigation Discovery in 2010 and 2011.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100317132524/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5250389-504083.html "Book 'Em: Mommy's Little Girl -- Casey Anthony and her Daughter Caylee's Tragic Fate," "48 Hours Mystery," November 9, 2009]</ref> CBS's "Crimesider" column featured her in a story about the Casey Anthony case.<ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/book-em-mommys-little-girl-casey-anthony-and-her-daughter-caylees-tragic-fate/ 48 Hours' "Crimesiders," "Book 'Em: ''Mommy's Little Girl -- Casey Anthony and her Daughter Caylee's Tragic Fate''," Nov. 9, 2009]</ref>

==Awards== *2001: Freedom Fighter Award, National Alliance for Choice in Giving<ref>[http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid:82157 Award listing, National Alliance for Choice in Giving, Austin Chronicle]</ref> *2011: Defenders of the Innocent Award, Illinois Innocence Project<ref>[http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1072586377/3-honored-by-Downstate-Innocence-Project ''The State Journal-Register'', "3 honored by Downstate Innocence Project," May 16, 2011]</ref>

==Books== {{Lacking ISBN|date=August 2020}}

===Fiction=== *''Bite the Moon'' (Molly Mullet mystery; Five Star, 2007)

====Lucinda Pierce Mystery series (Severn House)==== *''The Trophy Exchange'' (2008) *''Punish the Deed'' (2009) *''Mistaken Identity'' (2010) *''Twisted Reason'' (2010)<ref>[https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0727869450 ''Twisted Reason'' (Lucinda Pierce Mystery), September 2010]</ref> *''False Front'' (2012) *''Wrong Turn'' (2013) *''Chain Reaction'' (2014)

====Libby Clark series (Severn House)====

* ''Scandal in the Secret City'' (2014) * ''Treason in the Secret City'' (2016 * ''Sabotage in the Secret City'' (2018)

===Nonfiction=== *''Red Boots & Attitude'' with Susie Kelly Flatau (Eakin Press, 2002) *''Through the Window'' (serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells, St. Martin's Press, 2003) *''Into the Water'' (serial killer Richard Evonitz, St. Martin's Press, 2004) *''Written in Blood'' (Kathleen Peterson murder, St. Martin's Press, 2005) *''Baby Be Mine'' (Bobbie Jo Stinnett murder, St. Martin's Press, 2006) *''Gone Forever'' (Susan McFarland murder, St. Martin's Press, 2006) *''Under the Knife'' (Dean Faiello case, St. Martin's Press, 2007) *''Out There'' (Lisa Nowak case, St. Martin's Press, 2007) *''The Pastor's Wife'' (Matthew Winkler murder, St. Martin's Press, 2008) *''A Poisoned Passion'' (Wendi Mae Davidson case, St. Martin's Press, 2009) *''Mommy's Little Girl'' (Casey Anthony case, St. Martin's Press, 2009) *''Her Deadly Web'' (Raynella Dossett Leath case, St. Martin's Press, 2012) *''Sleep My Darlings'' (Schenecker double homicide, St. Martin's Press, 2013) *''Bitter Remains'' (Laura Ackerson murder, Berkley Books, 2016) *''Death on the River'' (Angelika Graswald case, St Martin's Press, 2019)

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== *[http://www.dianefanning.com/ Official Website] *[https://dianefanning.blogspot.com/ Author's "Writing is a Crime" blog] *[http://us.macmillan.com/author/dianefanning St. Martin's Press author bio] *[http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/bws/deals/article/9003-batchelor-to-s-amp-g-.html ''Publishers Weekly'' "Double Duty for Fanning," (scroll down), Nov. 16, 2007]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fanning, Diane}} Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American bloggers Category:Living people Category:American mystery writers Category:American non-fiction crime writers Category:Writers from Baltimore Category:Novelists from Texas Category:American women bloggers Category:American women mystery writers Category:21st-century American women novelists Category:People from Bedford, Virginia Category:Novelists from Virginia Category:People from New Braunfels, Texas Category:University of Lynchburg alumni Category:Journalists from Virginia Category:Journalists from Texas Category:Novelists from Maryland Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers Category:1950 births Category:American women crime writers