Alison L. McLennan grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts. She moved to Utah in 1989 to attend the University of Utah and spend time in the mountains. Her debut novel, Falling for Johnny, was inspired by the infamous James "Whitey" Bulger who once lived in her neighborhood. When she wrote Falling, Bulger had been missing for sixteen years. The uncanny timing of his arrest with the novel's publication prompted her to correspond with Bulger while he was in prison. Falling for Johnny won an honorable mention in the 2012 Utah Original Writing Competition and the Inkubate Literary Blockbuster Competition. She has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Utah and an MFA from The Solstice Program where she was awarded a Fellowship for Fiction. Her second novel, Ophelia's War: The Secret Story of a Mormon Turned Madam, was an Editor's Choice by the Historical Novel Society. Dangerous Mercy, the sequel to Ophelia's War, will be published by Five Star Cengage in October 2019.