Shirl Henke is an American best-selling author of contemporary and

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

romance novels A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

. She has eclectic tastes and has written historical, contemporary, western, and regency-themed books. She also writes mystery novels using the pen name Alexa Hunt. Some of her works have been translated into other languages.

Biography

She was born Shirl Nehrt, fifteen years after her next oldest sibling. Her father died while she was in her teens, leaving Henke alone with her mother. Henke entered the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

immediately after graduating from high school. In her first year at school she met her future husband, Jim Henke, in a shared Spanish class. Although Henke originally planned to become a journalist,''Romance Reader'' she eventually earned a B.A. and an M.A. in history (both from the

). After her graduation, she worked as a cashier for a loan company, a public welfare caseworker, the assistant circulation manager for a small newspaper, and an administrator of a federal information program for the elderly. After earning a job at the university in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

where her husband was a tenured professor, for fifteen years Henke taught history, gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies, freshman composition, and remedial reading. Henke finally sold her first novel in 1986. Two years later, she left her teaching career to become a full-time writer. In her Henke has made the

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

bestseller list and the Waldenbooks and

B. Dalton B. Dalton Bookseller (often called B. Dalton or B. Dalton's) was an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton, a member of the same family that operated the Dayton's department store chain. B. Dalton expanded to become the ...

Bestsellers list 10 times each. Her husband took early retirement in order to assist her burgeoning writing career. Henke lives in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, where she recently took a landscaping design course at the Missouri Botanical Garden and has designed the landscaping for her yard. She and her husband Jim, a retired professor of English, have a son, Matt. Henke is a member of the

Authors Guild The Authors Guild is America's oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has counted among ...

Romance Writers of America Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by incr ...

, Missouri Romance Writers,

Sisters in Crime Sisters in Crime is an organization that has 4,500 members in 60+ regional chapters worldwide, offering networking, advice and support to mystery authors. Members are authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians bound by their ...

, Novelists Inc., and

International Thriller Writers International Thriller Writers (ITW), was founded October 9, 2004, at Bouchercon XXXV, the "World Mystery and Suspense Conference", in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Six months later, some 150 authors with more than one billion books sold worldwide h ...

Bibliography

Romance

Old California Couplet

*''Golden Lady'' (1986) *''Love Unwilling'' (1987)

Texas Trilogy

*''Cactus Flower'' (1988) *''Moon Flower'' (1989) *''Night Flower'' (1990)

Discovery Duet

*''Paradise And More'' (1991) *''Return to Paradise'' (1992)

Santa Fe Trilogy

*''Night Wind's Woman'' (1991) *''White Apache's Woman'' (1993) *''Deep As the Rivers'' (1997)

Colorado Couplet

*''Terms of Love'' (1992) *''Terms of Surrender'' (1993)

Blackthorne

*''Love a Rebel, Love a Rogue'' (1994) *''Wicked Angel'' (2001) *''Wanton Angel'' (2002)

American Lord

*''Yankee Earl'' (2003) *''Rebel Baron'' (2004) *''Texas Viscount'' (2004) *''Shawnee Lord'' (2018)

Novels

*''Capture the Sun'' (1988) *''Summer Has No Name'' (1990) *''Bouquet'' (1994) *''A Fire in the Blood'' (1994) *''Bride of Fortune'' (1996) *''Broken Vows'' (1998) *''The Endless Sky'' (1998) *''Sundancer'' (1999) *''McCrory's Lady'' (2002) *''Finders Keepers'' (2005) *''Sneak and Rescue'' (2006) *''The River Nymph'' (2008) *''Pale Moon Stalker'' (2008) *''Chosen Woman'' (2009) *''Love Lessons at Midnight'' (TBA)''Romance Readers''

Omnibus

*''The Topaz Man Presents: Presents a Dream Come True'' (1994) (with Jennifer Blake, Georgina Gentry, Anita Mills and Becky Lee Weyrich) *''Secrets of the Heart'' (1994) (with Madeline Baker, Jennifer Blake, Georgina Gentry and Patricia Rice) *''Unwrapped'' (2004) (with Nina Bangs, Claudia Dain) *''Captive's Return / Finders Keepers'' (2005) (with Catherine Mann)

Thrillers (as Alexa Hunt)

*''Corrupts Absolutely'' (2005) *''Homeland Security'' (2007)

References

Shirl Henke Official WebsiteRomantic Times Article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henke, Shirl American romantic fiction writers Living people University of Missouri alumni 1942 births American women novelists Novelists from Missouri Women romantic fiction writers American mystery novelists Women mystery writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers Women thriller writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers