Emory Rhea Raxter was born in Asheville, North Carolina and raised in Greeneville, Tennessee. Upon earning a B.S. degree in English from Jacksonville University, she returned to East Tennessee and took her place in the family business. Raxter's first novel portrays her love and knowledge of the Western North Carolina mountain region with a unique understanding of the flavors that makeup the area in which she was born and raised. She has spent a lifetime getting to know the people of the area and hours of tireless research that come alive in her work as she weaves thrilling authentic folklore with page turning suspense. Literary critics have compared the raw grit of Raxter's work to Elmore Leonard and others have not been so shaken by a work since 'Silence of the Lambs'. Still other's reported what they enjoyed most is Raxter's unique style.