Ellen Mansoor Collier is a Houston-based freelance writer whose articles and essays have been published in several national magazines, including: FAMILY CIRCLE, MODERN BRIDE, FIRST, GLAMOUR, BIOGRAPHY, COSMOPOLITAN, COUNTRY ACCENTS, PLAYGIRL, etc. Several of her short stories have appeared in WOMAN'S WORLD. A flapper at heart, she’s the owner of MODERNEMILLIE on etsy, specializing in Deco to retro items.
Formerly she's worked as a magazine editor, and in advertising/marketing and public relations. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Magazine Journalism, and served on Utmost, the college magazine, and as President of Women in Communications (W.I.C.I.) her senior year.
During college, she once worked as a cocktail waitress, a short-lived experience, and as a reporter for a community newspaper, providing the background for her Jazz Age mysteries. FLAPPERS, FLASKS AND FOUL PLAY is her first novel, published in 2012. BATHING BEAUTIES, BOOZE AND BULLETS, was released in May, 2013, and GOLD DIGGERS, GAMBLERS AND GUNS came out in 2014 and VAMPS, VILLAINS and VAUDEVILLE came out in 2015.
"When you grow up in Houston, Galveston becomes like a second home. I had no idea this sleepy beach town had such a wild and colorful past until we visited a former speakeasy-turned-restaurant and heard the exciting tales of Galveston’s gangsters. Curious, I began doing research, and became fascinated by the local legends and wild stories of the 1920s. Finally I had to start writing, trying to imagine what an ambitious, adventurous flapper's life was like in Galveston during Prohibition."