Diane Fanning
Encyclopedia
Early life and education
Fanning was born Diane Lynn Butcher in Baltimore, Maryland. She attended Perry Hall High SchoolPerry Hall High School
Perry Hall High School is a growing high school established in 1963 and is the largest public high school in Baltimore County, Maryland, enrolling about 2,300 students a year. Located in the northeastern Baltimore suburb of Perry Hall and serving the surrounding communities, such as Kingsville and...
, then Lynchburg College
Lynchburg College
Lynchburg College is a private college in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA, related by covenant to the Christian Church with approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students. The Princeton Review lists it as one of the 368 best colleges in the nation...
in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, where she majored in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
.
Career
After college, she wrote for the advertising field, earning more than 70 Addy AwardsAddy Awards
The ADDY Awards is the world's largest advertising competition with over 50,000 entries annually. Founded in Florida in 1960 it was adopted by the American Advertising Federation, a not-for-profit industry association, as a national competition in 1968....
for her work. During that time, she also wrote magazine articles and personal essays as a freelance writer.
Her career shifted into nonprofit work with a move to New Braunfels, Texas
New Braunfels, Texas
New Braunfels is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas that is a principal city of the metropolitan area. Braunfels means "brown rock" in German; the city is named for Braunfels, in Germany. The city's population was 57,740 as of the 2010 census, up 58% from the 2000...
. Fanning worked for fundraising groups, including Another Way Texas Shares and the National Association for Choice in Giving. She began her first book while living in Texas and eventually quit her nonprofit day job to write full time. In addition to writing books, she is co-founder of Women in Crime Ink
Women in Crime Ink
Women in Crime Ink is an American daily crime aggregated blog founded on March 10, 2008 as "a well of thoughts on crime and media issues from women criminal justice professionals and authors." The site offers original content and coverage of crime, media, books, literature, high-profile criminal...
, described by the Wall Street Journal as "a blog worth reading."
One of her titles, Written in Blood, received an Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
nomination.
In 2002, Fanning corresponded with serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells
Tommy Lynn Sells
-Early life:Sells and his twin sister, Tammy Jean, contracted meningitis when they were 18 months old. While Sells suffered a high fever, he survived. His sister, however, died from the inflammation. Shortly thereafter, Sells was sent to live with his aunt Bonnie Woodall in Holcomb, Missouri...
, who, in a letter to Fanning, confessed to murdering 10-year-old Joel Kirkpatrick, whose mother was convicted of killing her son. Fanning's testimony before a prison review board about her letter from Sells, according to the Innocence Project
Innocence Project
An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to reforming the criminal justice systems to...
, helped land Harper a new trial and, ultimately, an acquittal. Fanning's book, Through the Window, which details Sells' crime spree, was also said to help prove Harper's innocence. In 2011, Fanning was given the Defenders of the Innocent Award by the Illinois Innocence Project for getting the confession from Sells.
Fanning has been interviewed for national TV news shows, including CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's "48 Hours Mystery" in November 2009. She regularly makes speaking appearances, including, as examples, the Texas Book Festival
Texas Book Festival
The Texas Book Festival was established in 1995 by Laura Bush, then the First Lady of Texas, and Mary Margaret Farabee, wife of former State Senator Ray Farabee. The festival was created to benefit the state's public library system, to promote the joy of reading, as well as to honor Texas authors. ...
and, locally, the Blanco (Texas) Woman’s Club. In November 2009, 48 Hours
48 Hours
48 Hours may refer to:* 48 Hours , a documentary and news television program* 48 Hrs., a 1982 comedy and action film, starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy* Another 48 Hrs., the sequel to the 1982 comedy/action film...
' "Crimesider" column featured her in a story about the Casey Anthony case.
Personal life
Diane and Wayne Fanning have three children: Pete Fanning, Ivy Johnson and Liz Nichols.Awards
- 2001: Freedom Fighter Award, National Alliance for Choice in Giving
- 2011: Defenders of the Innocent Award, Illinois Innocence Project
Fiction
- Bite the Moon (Molly Mullet mystery; Five Star, 2007)
- The Trophy Exchange (Lucinda Pierce mysteryLucinda Pierce Mystery seriesThe Lucinda Pierce Mystery series, by American non-fiction author and novelist Diane Fanning, debuted in 2008 with The Trophy Exchange. The four-part series, released by Severn House in the UK and US, features Virginia Homicide Detective Lucinda Pierce as she follows the evidence and investigates...
; Severn House, 2008) - Punish the Deed (Lucinda Pierce mystery; Severn House, 2009)
- Mistaken Identity (Lucinda Pierce mystery; Severn House, 2010)
- Twisted Reason (4th Lucinda Pierce mysery series; released in the UK. Severn House, Sept 2010)
True crime
- Through the Window (serial killer Tommy Lynn SellsTommy Lynn Sells-Early life:Sells and his twin sister, Tammy Jean, contracted meningitis when they were 18 months old. While Sells suffered a high fever, he survived. His sister, however, died from the inflammation. Shortly thereafter, Sells was sent to live with his aunt Bonnie Woodall in Holcomb, Missouri...
; St. Martin's PressSt. Martin's PressSt. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City. Currently, St. Martin's Press is one of the United States' largest publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under eight imprints, which include St. Martin's Press , St...
, 2003) - Into the Water (serial killer Richard EvonitzRichard EvonitzRichard Marc Evonitz was a serial killer, kidnapper, and rapist responsible for the deaths of three girls in Spotsylvania County, Virginia and the abduction and rape of a 15-year-old girl in Richland County, South Carolina...
; St. Martin's Press, 2004) - Written in Blood (Kathleen PetersonKathleen PetersonKathleen Hunt Atwater Peterson , daughter of Veronica Hunt, was an accomplished student, engineer, volunteer and civic leader...
murder; St. Martin's Press, 2005) - Baby Be Mine (Bobbie Jo StinnettBobbie Jo StinnettBobbie Jo Stinnett was a 23-year-old pregnant woman found brutally slain in her home in Skidmore, Missouri. The accused, Lisa M. Montgomery, then 36, was convicted of strangling Stinnett from behind and then cutting the woman's unborn child, eight months into gestation, from her womb...
murder; St. Martin's Press, 2006) - Gone Forever (Susan McFarland murder; St. Martin's Press, 2006)
- Under the Knife (Dean FaielloDean FaielloDean Faiello is an American criminal currently imprisoned at Attica Correctional Facility after being found responsible for the April 2003 death of Maria Cruz, whom he had represented himself to as a dermatologist...
case; St. Martin's Press, 2007) - Out There (Lisa NowakLisa NowakLisa Marie Nowak is a former American naval flight officer and NASA astronaut. Born in Washington, D.C., she was selected by NASA in 1996 and qualified as a mission specialist in robotics...
case; St. Martin's Press, 2007) - The Pastor's WifeThe Pastor's Wife (book)THE PASTOR'S WIFE: The True Story of a Minister and the Shocking Death That Divided a Family, by author and novelist Diane Fanning, is a true crime account of Pastor Matthew Winkler, who was found dead, fatally wounded in his back, from a shotgun blast, in 2006 at his Fourth Street Church of Christ...
(Matthew WinklerMatthew WinklerMatthew Brian Winkler was the victim in a high-profile murder case in 2006.In the 1990s, Winkler attended college at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee. Winkler was the pulpit minister at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, Tennessee, at the time of his death...
murder; St. Martin's Press, 2008) - A Poisoned Passion (Wendi Mae Davidson case, St. Martin's Press, 2009)
- Mommy's Little GirlMommy's Little GirlMommy's Little Girl: Casey Anthony and her Daughter Caylee's Tragic Fate is a 2009 biographical true crime book available in large print and written by author and novelist Diane Fanning about 2-year-old Caylee Anthony’s disappearance from her Florida home in July 2008...
(Casey Anthony case; St. Martin's Press, 2009)
External links
- http://www.amazon.com/Diane-Fanning/e/B001IQUQ2C/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1Diane Fanning's blogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
on Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
] - Official Website
- Author's "Writing is a Crime" blog
- St. Martin's Press author bio
- "Lucinda Pierce" Facebook page
- Publishers Weekly "Double Duty for Fanning," (scroll down), Nov. 16, 2007