Authors
- Home
- /
- Karen Dustman
Karen Dustman
Karen Dustman is a former prosecutor and the author of over 25 books ranging from non-fiction history to Southern mysteries and time-travel romance. In addition to her books, she has penned more than 200 freelance articles for a wide variety of national, regional, and trade publications.
Karen’s adventurous spirit has swept her along a decidedly off-the-beaten-path career. She’s crewed on a square-rigged sailing ship; ridden cross-country on a motorcycle (one she reassembled herself from a basket case); graduated from UCLA Law School; built and renovated houses; and spent nine years as a criminal prosecutor. But what she loves most of all, Karen confesses, is writing.
Karen’s first book was a how-to on home repair for women, inspired by her own hands-on experience renovating “too many” run-down homes and apartments with a boyfriend. That happy debut landed her on nationwide media, including Discovery Channel, HGTV, Good Day New York, and the Howie Mandel show. Since then, she’s written books about a long-forgotten California ghost town; a helpful how-to book on writing memoir and family history; two fiction series (mystery and time-travel romance); and more. Karen’s latest book (launched in March 2025) shares gripping true personal stories from the 1926 Miami Hurricane, a catastrophic Category-4 disaster, in which her father was a survivor.
These days she’s busy writing a fourth Southern mystery; researching more true stories for future books in her historical “bad boys” series; and wrangling a history blog for her indie imprint, Clairitage Press.
Karen swears by the wisdom of gut intuition, the healing power of yoga, and the inspirational magic of coffee with good friends. She adores stories of all kinds (true and otherwise), especially those fun real-life history tales they never told you in school. And she’ll happily chat for hours about capturing family history, challenging yourself to tackle new stuff, the amazing untold tales you can find buried in old newspapers, and the joys of not always taking the straight-and-narrow path. She and her husband share their California home with a sassy, way-too-smart African Grey parrot named Rocky (who makes cameo appearances in her Southern mysteries).
Visit Karen’s indie press at Clairitage.com or connect on AbbyRiceAuthor.com.
Author Links:
eMail: kdustman21@gmail.com
Websites: www.Clairitage.com (“Claire” + heritage),
www.AbbyRiceAuthor.com and
Write A Review