Lee Winter

As a young adult, Winter came out as a lesbian and disliked the poor quality of lesbian fiction, preferring autobiographies on lesbian people.[1] Originally, Winter had a career in journalism, winning awards for her work.[2] Later, she became a novelist.[2]

In 2015, Winter released the novel The Red Files; Marisol Cortez of Lesbians on the Loose described it as "a great read by a promising debut author", praised the writing and characters, and noted the inspiration from Winter's journalism career.[3] In 2016, she wrote the novel Requiem for Immortals; Tara Scott of Lesbians on the Loose said, "if I want to read something from a different genre, it’s a relief to not have to leave lesfic to find it, and Requiem for Immortals perfectly scratches that itch."[4] Both of these novels were nominated for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery and won the Golden Crown Literary Society for Mystery/Thriller: The Red Files in 2016 and Requiem for Immortals in 2017.[5][6][7]

In 2017, she wrote the novel Shattered,[8] which won the 2018 Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy.[7] Later, she wrote four more novels: The Brutal Truth (2017), Breaking Character (2018), Under Your Skin (2018), and Changing The Script (2019).[8] In 2020, she wrote the novel Hotel Queens,[8] which won the 2021 Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Romantic Blend.[7] In 2021, she wrote the novel The Awkward Truth.[8]

In 2023, Winter started a new book series, The Villains, with The Fixer as the inaugural title.[9] Writing for Autostraddle, Christina Tucker said of the book, "If you have ever known the joy and the pain of being totally head-over-heels invested in a slow burn, incomplete fanfic, then The Fixer is for you, I promise."[10] The Fixer broke its publisher Ylva Publishing's record for most preorders.[2] That same year, Winter released another novel, Chaos Agent, which Tucker said "surprised [her] with its smart and heartfelt combination of questions about morality and ethics, as it concluded the story that began in The Fixer.[11] Writing for AfterEllen, Claire Heuchan described The Villains as "a slick political thriller [l]ike Scandal if Olivia Pope was sapphic", noting that the relationship between the series' main characters Eden and Michelle was "the ultimate Opposites Attract romance".[2] She was one of three winners of that year's Alice B Readers Award.[12]

According to Heuchan, Winter's novels include a "deep understanding of media, politics, and how power is structured".[2]

Winter works as an editor part-time.[13]

• The Red Files (2015)[3]
• Requiem For Immortals (2016)[4]
• Shattered (2017)[8]
• The Brutal Truth (2017)[8]
• Breaking Character (2018)[8]
• Under Your Skin (2018)[8]
• Changing The Script (2019)[8]
• Hotel Queens (2020)[8]
• The Awkward Truth (2021)[8]
• The Fixer (2023)[10]
• Chaos Agent (2023)[11]