Isabella Maldonado

Award-winning author Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before writing crime fiction. A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina in her police department to attain the rank of captain, she served as a patrol officer, hostage negotiator, spokesperson, recruit instructor, patrol supervisor, and district station commander before her final assignment as the commander of the Special Investigations and Forensics Division. Retiring after twenty-two years on the force, Ms. Maldonado uses her law enforcement experience to bring a realistic edge to her writing. She is a member of the FBI National Academy Associates, Fairfax County Police Association, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, International Society of Latino Authors, and Sisters in Crime, where she served as president of the Phoenix Metro Chapter in 2015 and sat on the board until 2019. The author of the FBI Agent Nina Guerrera series and the Detective Veranda Cruz series, she lives in the Phoenix area with her family.