Lisa Lutz was born in Southern California in 1970. She attended the University of California at Santa Cruz and at Irvine, the University of Leeds in England and San Francisco State University, but never earned a bachelor's degree. In 1991, the aspiring screenwriter began the script for a mob comedy. After more than a decade and 25 revisions, the film Plan B starring Diane Keaton, Paul Sorvino and Natasha Lyonne was made, but only received a limited release. She decided that writing screenplays wasn't for her and she turned to writing fiction. Her debut novel, The Spellman Files, won the 2008 Alex Award and has been optioned by Paramount. Her works include the Izzy Spellman Mystery series… and Heads You Lose with David Hayward.