| Woodland Hills Author Pens
Third Whodunit
Reprinted from Warner Center News I write about strong women -- women who are willing to put their lives on the line," Palmer tells Valley News Group. As in Danger Zone, Palmer's other leading women are also passionate and courageous. In Lioness, Cat Stanton puts herself in tremendous jeopardy as she retraces her brother's travels in Africa with the hopes of discovering how he was murdered. In A Veiled Journey, adopted Liz Ryan learns her birth mother was a Saudi Arabian concubine who gave her up for adoption in order to save her life. In search of answers, Liz is drawn into the dangerous and hostile world of the women behind the veils. "I write about things that touch a chord in me," says Palmer. "Living in Saudi Arabia, the backdrop for A Veiled Journey, and a t one time in East Africa, the setting for Lioness, I was inspired by the people, the cultures and individual beauty of the landscapes. With her first two novels, A Veiled Journey and Lioness, Palmer has had the distinction of twice being on the Los Angeles Times best seller list. Both books were originally published under Palmer's pseudonym, Nell Brien, her mother's maiden name. Danger Zone will make Shirley's hard cover debut using her given name. Palmer was born and educated in London. her early career took her to Manhattan, where she worked for the British delegation to the United Nations, and then, after marriage to an American architect, for the British consulate General. Later she and her husband moved to Los Angeles and Palmer became an American citizen. Several years of rewarding work followed, managing the public relations for her husband's architectural practice. Upon the birth of her son, Palmer retired from the workforce for 15 years to become a full-time mother. In the early 80s, Palmer's husband, Dan, had the opportunity to participate in the building of a new town on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. The Palmers spent five years in the Kingdom. "While I was in Saudi Arabia, and being a woman, there wasn't much to do. In the past, I had always wanted to write, but I never had the time. This was the perfect opportunity for me -- so I wrote a novel," she explains. In 2003, Palmer's fourth book, The Trade, will be published. In this novel, Palmer show the enslavement of women and children as the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world, estimated by the United Nations to be worth upward of 12 billion dollars a year. Palmer and her husband share their West Valley home with a bulldog and three cats. |