1954年生於美國佛羅里達，原主修微生物學，後改修俄語，擁有俄文學士與語言學碩士學位。曾在華府的美國大學教導外籍生英語達八年，之後開始全職寫作。目前住在美國西岸，養了兩隻拉布拉多犬。已經出版四十多種作品，包括《吸血鬼家族日記系列》、《女巫烈焰》、《波吉亞家新娘》、《梅迪奇女王》，以及「星艦迷航記」電視劇本二十多集。

""My name is Lisa di Antonio Gherardini Giocondo, though to acquaintances, I am known simply as Madonna Lisa. My story begins not with my birth but a murder, committed the year before I was born ""

Florence, April 1478: The handsome Giuliano de' Medici is brutally assassinated in Florence's magnificent Duomo. The shock of the murder ripples throughout the great city, from the most renowned artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to a wealthy wool merchant and his extraordinarily beautiful daughter, Madonna Lisa. More than a decade later, Florence falls under the dark spell of the preacher Savonarola, a fanatic who burns paintings and books as easily as he sends men to their deaths. Lisa, now grown into an alluring woman, captures the heart of Giuliano's nephew and namesake. But when Guiliano, her love, meets a tragic end, Lisa must gather all her courage and cunning to untangle a sinister web of illicit love, treachery, and dangerous secrets that threatens her life. Set against the drama of 15th Century Florence, "I, Mona Lisa" is painted in many layers of fact and fiction, with each intricately drawn twist told through the captivating voice of Mona Lisa herself.