Crystal Sharpe

Who Is Crystal Sharpe? Is she real? A figment of the imagination? Perhaps she's a little bit of both.

Crystal Sharpe is the pen name created by Boomer co-authors Virginia Cornue and Linda Lombri for their Sandra Troux Mysteries books, which follow the adventures of three savvy shero sleuths as they crack crimes around the globe. Crystal Sharpe was inspired by the famed Carolyn Keene - the pseudonym created for the iconic Nancy Drew detective series.

Both China adoptive single parents from Montclair, NJ, Virginia and Linda met for the first time in Shanghai on a 2006 heritage tour with their now grown daughters. A casual dinner in the fall of 2010 sparked the creation of this new book series. Why not write a new mystery series centered around three 60-ish women embarked on encore careers as international sleuths? Why not, indeed!

Virginia Cornue, author, award winning women’s rights activist, cultural anthropologist, and part time professor, has published The Dragon’s Daughters Return (2007), Draw on Culture: China (2009) and So Much Blood: The Civil War Letters of CSA Private William W. Beard, 1861-1865 (2015). Along with the Sandra Troux Mysteries, she is writing two novels, Mama’s Girl and Race. War. Love. An Unknown World. Virginia headed NOW-NYC and its Service Fund; the Women’s Funding Coalition-NYC; and Newark Emergency Services for Families. In 1989, she received the Newark (NJ) Humanitarian Service Award and in 1998, the Susan B. Anthony Award. She earned a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Rutgers University 2001.

Linda Lombri is an author, award-winning marketing consultant/ business writer, book editor, interior book designer, and home economist. Following a career in the corporate arena, she embarked on a new direction as principal of the communications firm Lombri Writes! Linda’s clients include businesses in a variety of market sectors, as well as entrepreneurs and fellow authors. In addition to the Sandra Troux Mysteries series, Linda is writing Tapestry & Patchwork: A Family History Sampler, a book of essays based on her family’s fascinating immigration stories, and a trilogy of how-to guides on navigating the “third act” years.