JOAN M KOP

JOAN M KOP grew up in the Pacific Northwest and in high school became mesmerized by the television show Mission Impossible. After attending school to become a legal secretary, she was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency, which fueled her passion for travel, adventure and learning about different cultures.

She later graduated from Gonzaga University and moved back to Washington, DC, where she met spy novelist Jack Hashian who became a mentor.

In 2010, she published a memoir, Spies, Lies & Psychosis, through Gray Dog Press and revised the original title in 2024.

In 2019, she published The Freedom Chaser, a finalist for the 2020 PNWA Pearl Book Award.

In 2024, she received an Honorable Mention from Writer's Digest for an essay: Spy fiction is back in vogue. But did you know there are two basic types?

In March 2025, she published an espionage thriller, The Spy from Beijing. Her forthcoming novel is The Embassy Mole.

She currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with her twelve-year-old Shih Tzu.