New York Times Book Review
Where Historical Secrets Meet Timeless Truth
WRITING
MYSTERIES
BY FAITH
SHORT BIO: Patricia Raybon is a Christy Award–winning Colorado author of historical mysteries featuring Annalee Spain, a young theologian and amateur detective, other historical suspense, and writes devotional content for Our Daily Bread Ministries, where she's a regular contributor.
Why Write Mysteries?
A nice church girl like me? I was born in a dark time in America, in a segregated Missouri hospital basement room with no windows, next to the pipes. There, I entered a world that expected nothing of me, but didn't explain why.
I found hope and light, however, in the little kindergarten Sunday school room in the small inner-city church my family attended in the high plains of Denver, Colorado. My parents settled there after World War II—my dad, a decorated Army vet, one of two "colored" accountants in the Air Force Finance and Accounting Center in Denver, in a U.S. military finally integrated after a long, bitter fight.
During the era's tense struggles, the church was our sanctuary. I'm still an active church member in a divided world yet arguing how to love "the darker brother," as poet Langston Hughes put it—but also love each other.
So, I was drawn even as a child to mystery stories, a genre that asks not just "whodunit" but why. Inspired by literary detective Sherlock Holmes and like-minded sleuths, I dove into tales of deep shadows, shifting history, and high stakes. On that trail, I discovered the dangerous divided streets of the 1920s and the hidden ciphers of World War II.
But through gripping suspense, complex conflict, and resilient characters, I learned—as a writer of Bible reflections, too—how a detective's pursuit of crime can also lead to timeless truth.
I pray my sleuthing also offers surprising suspense and inspiration, often with romantic love and hard-won friendships to sweeten and deepen the journey. My warmest thanks for traveling with me.
LONG BIO: Journalist Patricia Raybon is a Christy Award–winning Colorado author who turned to fiction during the pandemic—an exciting addition to her devotional writing for Our Daily Bread Ministries, where she's a regular contributor.
Her debut novel, All That Is Secret, featuring theologian Annalee Spain—an amateur detective—won a Christy Award for first novel and was a Parade Magazine pick for "Mysteries We Love" (Fall 2021). Among "Most Anticipated Books of 2021" at CrimeReads, it also was picked by NBA All-Star Steph Curry as a selection for his Literati book club.
The sequel, Double the Lies, won the 2024 Christianity Today Book Award for fiction. The third installment, Truth Be Told, was a New York Times Book Review pick among "The Best Historical Fiction Novels to Read Right Now" (Thrillers) and protagonist Annalee Spain was named by the Times among "4 Great Fictional Detectives."
Her nonfiction writing includes My First White Friend, winner of a Christopher Award, and I Told the Mountain to Move, a Book of the Year finalist in the Christianity Today Book Awards.
Latest Fiction
With her new stand-alone novel, The Sedalia Code, Patricia follows her mother's family roots in North Carolina to a setting inspired by the real Palmer Memorial Institute, a historic Black boarding school in Guilford County, a short hour from Durham, the tobacco town where her mother grew up.
Patricia honed her writing skills in two big-city Colorado newsrooms—The Denver Post, where she was Sunday Contemporary Magazine editor, and at the Scripps Howard Rocky Mountain News, where she was a magazine feature writer, winning mutiple awards for newspaper feature writing at both papers.
Mid-career she taught news reporting and magazine journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder for 15 years. Patricia's journalism degrees are a B.A. from The Ohio State University and an M.A. from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Personal Essays
Her personal essays have been published in the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, USA Today, USA Weekend, Guideposts, Charles Stanley's In Touch Magazine, Christianity Today, the Washington Post, and for National Public Radio's Weekend Edition. Patricia was inducted into the Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame in 2021.
Writing by Faith
Born into the Christian Methodist Episcopal (C.M.E.) church, Patricia is now an active member of an African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church in Denver. She's also a member of Mystery Writers of America, Crime Writers of Color, Sisters in Crime, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
Patricia and her family enjoy movies, popcorn, college hoops, and historical dramas and mysteries on Masterpiece on PBS. Join her Readers' Circle at patriciaraybon.com and get her free e-download, "The Busy Person's Guide to Hearing God."
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