Cat Jameson is enjoying her third career, this one as a writer of romance novels packed with equal parts suspense, snark, and spice. Before that, she was a criminal defense lawyer for almost three decades, a life experience that finds its way into her stories. Upon retiring from the practice of law, Jameson began a second career as co-owner of a metaphysical bookstore— exchanging her law books for books on astrology, tarot, and non-mainstream spiritual traditions. “People see that as a 180-degree shift,” Cat explains with a laugh, “but in truth, both have always been a part of me. The only thing that changed was which was front and center.” She says the same is true for her third career as a writer: “I’ve been writing stories since I was a kid. I just never sent any of them out into the world.” That changed in 2024 when Jameson’s debut novel, Chasing Shadows, was not only sent out, but picked up by The Wild Rose Press.

A native Missourian, Jameson grew up in a small town near the Ozark Mountains, the middle child of a railroader and a teacher, before moving to St. Louis to attend Washington University School of Law. She wound up staying in St. Louis for most of her legal career and the city features prominently in both her debut novel and two others she has in the works. Today, she resides in Columbia, Missouri or, as Jameson calls it, “the middle of the middle of Flyover Country, halfway between the Kansas City Chiefs to the west and the St. Louis Cardinals to the east.” When not writing, shop-keeping, or playing with grandkids, Jameson is most likely to be off on a road trip with her best friend and business partner in a ten-year-old van named Woo — stopping at every bookstore and thrift shop along the way, loading up on ‘things they do not need and have no room for.’

Chasing Shadows is currently in the publication pipeline with a scheduled release date of March 3, 2025.

NOTE:  Cat Jameson is a pen name. Anyone wishing to check Cat’s legal credentials will need to search for Cat (or Cathy) Kelly.  She was enrolled at Washington University School of Law under her maiden name of  Cathy Gilbert.