Penny Warner is an American mystery writer who has won multiple

Agatha Award The Agatha Awards, named for Agatha Christie, are literary awards for mystery and crime writers who write in the traditional mystery subgenre: "books typified by the works of Agatha Christie . . . loosely defined as mysteries that contain no expli ...

s. She has also written more than 50 books on subjects ranging from cooking to parenting guides to party and activity books.

Life

Warner earned a master's degree in special education and has taught child development at

Diablo Valley College Diablo Valley College (DVC) is a public community college with campuses in Pleasant Hill and San Ramon in Contra Costa County, California. DVC is one of three public community colleges in the Contra Costa Community College District (along with ...

San Ramon, California San Ramon (Spanish: ''San Ramón'', meaning "St. Raymond") is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located within the San Ramon Valley, and east of San Francisco. San Ramon's population was 84,605 per the 2020 census, maki ...

and at

Chabot College Chabot College (Chabot or CC) is a public community college in Hayward, California. It is part of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District. History Chabot College was the first college opened by the Chabot- Las Positas Community Colle ...

for 20 years. She has also taught sign language, special education, infant development, and preschool for deaf children. Warner has written more than 50 nonfiction books aimed at parents and children on topics ranging from child development to party planning to games and activities. Her nonfiction has been published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

, Meadowbrook Press, and other publishers. She currently lives in the East Bay region of California.

Mystery writing

Warner is the author of the Connor Westphal mystery series, about a deaf reporter in the California Gold Country. The first book in the series, ''Dead Body Language,'' won the

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

for Best First Novel in 1998. Her children's mystery, ''Mystery Of The Haunted Caves: A Troop 13 Mystery,'' won the

for Best Children/Young Adult Fiction in 2001, along with an Anthony Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.

The Code Busters Club series

In 2011, Warner published the first book in a new children's series called ''The Code Busters Club''. The series includes codes in the story for readers to solve. So far four novels in the series have been released. Two of the novels have won the Agatha Award Nominee for Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery while the other two have been finalists for the award. Books in the series include: * ''The Secret of the Skeleton Key'' (2011 nominee for the Agatha Award for Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery) * ''The Haunted Lighthouse'' (2012 winner of the Agatha Award for Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery) * ''The Mystery of the Pirate’s Treasure'' (2013 nominee for the Agatha Award for Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery) * ''The Mummy’s Curse'' (2014 winner of the Agatha Award for Best Children's/Young Adult Mystery * ''The Hunt for the Missing Spy'' * ''The Secret of the Puzzle Box''

Awards

* ''Dead Body Language'' won the

for Best First Novel, 1998. * ''Mystery Of The Haunted Caves: A Troop 13 Mystery'' won the

for Best Children/Young Adult Fiction, 2001.Danville columnist, author Warner wins Agatha Award
By Pat Craig,

East Bay Times The ''East Bay Times'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, United States, owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of Media News Group, that serves Contra Costa and Alameda counties, in the East Bay ...

, May 14, 2013. * ''The Haunted Lighthouse: The Code Busters Club'' won the Agatha Award for Best Children/Young Adult Fiction, 2013. * ''The Secret of the Puzzle Box: The Code Busters Club'' won the Agatha Award for Best Children/Young Adult Fiction, 2017.2017 Agatha Award Winners
" Criminal Element, May 1, 2017.

References

External links

Random HouseOfficial website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warner, Penny American family and parenting writers American food writers American mystery writers American writers of young adult literature American children's writers American educators Agatha Award winners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Anthony Award winners Macavity Award winners American women novelists Women writers of young adult literature Women mystery writers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American women