Victoria Thompson

Thompson was born in Washington, D.C., on July 25, 1948.^{[1][better source needed]} She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Secondary Education^[2] from the University of Maryland in 1970. She then earned a Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in 2012.^[3]

Thompson lived with her husband near Chicago. She had two adult daughters who are both writers, and three grandchildren.^[4] Thompson died at her home in Long Grove, Illinois, on August 23, 2024, at the age of 76.^[5]

Thompson began her career writing historical romance novels in the 1980s.^[6] In 1996, her publisher let her go, and her agent encouraged her to try writing mysteries. When Thompson heard Berkley Books was looking for a writer for a series set in turn of the 20th century New York City with a midwife heroine, so she wrote a proposal adding a detective character, and was hired to write the Gaslight Mystery series.^[7] Thompson felt it was kismet because she loves history,^[2] and she had fallen in love with New York City, and Greenwich Village in particular, when her daughter attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. At that time, Thompson was working as a fundraiser for the March of Dimes, and several of the volunteers she worked with were midwives.^[6]

Along with writing, Thompson was a professor in the creative writing Master of Fine Arts program at Seton Hill University from 2000-2023.^[4] She also served on the Board of Trustees for the Vernon Area Public Library in Lincolnshire, Illinois from 2019-2024.^[8] Many of her former students have become published authors, including V.M. Burns.^[9][10] Thompson also taught for a time in the continuing education program at Pennsylvania State University.^[4]

Source:^[4]

In 2012, Thompson received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times magazine. In 2016, she was Guest of Honor at Malice Domestic mystery fan convention.