Which author wrote the 'Kathy Mallory' series?

Carol O’Connell wrote the Kathy Mallory series, more formally known as the Kathleen Mallory series.

Mallory is a gifted but emotionally damaged NYPD detective whose unusual methods and detached personality distinguish her from more conventional mystery protagonists. O’Connell’s first Mallory novel, Mallory’s Oracle, was published in 1994 and introduces Mallory as a brilliant, streetwise investigator with a troubled childhood.

O’Connell originally trained as a painter at Arizona State University and wrote fiction privately before pursuing publication. Mallory’s Oracle was initially rejected by American publishers, but a British publisher accepted it; its success led to a substantial American publishing deal. The series eventually expanded across more than a dozen mysteries.

Readers sometimes confuse Kathy Mallory with other prominent women detectives created by writers such as Patricia Cornwell, Marcia Muller, or Sue Grafton. Mallory is distinctively O’Connell’s creation: a New York police detective whose investigative intelligence is paired with a morally unsettling, often sociopathic temperament.