Carla Kelly: Mormon Author
Carla Baier Kelly is a prolific, award-winning author of Regency romance novels and has enjoyed a successful publishing career in other genres. She approached writing historical romance from her interest and background in history.
Kelly earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Brigham Young University. She later earned her master’s degree in American history from the University of Louisiana-Monroe, where she focused on the Civil War and Indian Wars. She worked as a ranger for the National Park Service at the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site on the Montana-North Dakota border. Kelly wrote for the State Historical Society of North Dakota as a contracted research historian. She taught university-level history courses and was a staff features writer for a newspaper based in Valley City, North Dakota.
Her interest in the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) drew her into Regency romances and she often writes on how war touches the lives of ordinary people. Instead of focusing on the social elite, she explores the lives of the lower classes. She pens a few series of historical romance: Channel Fleet, Borrowed Light, and Spanish Brand. Her titles include Softly Falling, The Wedding Ring Quest, Her Hesitant Heart, The Admiral’s Penniless Bride, Libby’s London Merchant & Miss Chartley’s Guided Tour. Her work has appeared in several collections, including A Wedding Bouquet and Here’s to the Ladies: Stories of the Frontier Army. She is starting a romantic suspense series with the debut of The Double Cross in August 2015. She has also written a novel about the Mormons living in colonies in Mexico in 1912, entitled Safe Passage (August 2015). Kelly is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Kelly won a RITA Award, best novel, for Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand. She won a second time for The Lady’s Companion. She won two Spur Awards for A Season for Heroes and Kathleen Flaherty’s Long Winter, and two Whitney Awards for Borrowed Light and My Loving Vigil Keeping (both included in Here’s to the Ladies).
Kelly was born in 1947 and as the daughter of a career Navy officer, grew up overseas or on the coasts of the United States. She lives in Idaho Falls, Idaho, with her husband, Martin. They are the parents of five children.
