Sally Goldenbaum was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She received an undergraduate degree from Fontbonne College in St. Louis and a graduate degree in philosophy from Indiana University in Bloomington. She was a Catholic nun for several years before attending graduate school. Before becoming a full-time author, she worked in public television in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, taught philosophy, and was an editor for both a bioethics journal and a publishing house. She met Adrienne Staff in a park in Kansas City and they soon started writing novels together. She is the author of the Seaside Knitters Mystery series.