Karen White will be the keynote speaker at the 2025 Johns Creek Literary Fair, where she will unveil her brand-new release, The Lady on Esplanade, the third novel in the beloved author’s Royal Street series. With nearly 2 million books in print in 15 different languages, she is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 36 novels.
White traces her love of books and strong female characters to the third grade, when a librarian handed her The Secret of the Old Clock, a Nancy Drew mystery. Although she grew up mostly in London, England, the writer’s roots run deep in the South, where many of her novels are set.
After pursuing a career in business for a decade, “in a weak moment” she wrote her first book, In the Shadow of the Moon, published in 2000. Thirty-five more titles have so far followed. Referred to as “grit lit” and nominated for numerous national contests including the Southeastern Booksellers Alliance Fiction Book of the Year, White’s intricate plot lines and compelling characters always deliver a mix of family drama, mystery, intrigue and romance.
Her latest releases include That Last Carolina Summer (July 2025) and The House on Prytania (May 2023), the second book in her New Orleans-set mystery series.
Regarding The House on Prytania, Kirkus Reviews said, “White’s second Royal Street book, a spinoff of her bestselling Tradd Street series, continues the tradition of haunted houses, evil ghosts and fraught romances.”
When not writing, White, who lives in Milton, enjoys reading, bird watching and “avoiding cooking.” With two grown children and “a spoiled Havanese dog, Sophie,” she and her husband divide their time between Georgia and the northwest Florida coast.