Leslie Budewitz

Leslie Budewitz is a novelist, short story writer, and lawyer in northwest Montana. She received her BA from Seattle University and her JD from Notre Dame Law School. A Montana native, she’s long been fascinated by the state’s history and by stories of women on their own in the American West. She is the author of All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection (Beyond the Page Publishing, 2024). The title story won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story; others were nominated for Macavity, Derringer, and Spur Awards. The collection is a finalist for the 2025 High Plains International Book Awards, celebrating literary work set in or by authors living in this singular region.

Leslie is also the author of the Spice Shop mysteries, set in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, the Food Lovers’ Village mysteries, and psychological suspense (written as Alicia Beckman). Her guide for writers, Books, Crooks and Counselors: How to Write Accurately About Criminal Law and Courtroom Procedure (Quill Driver Books, 2011), won the Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction, and Death al Dente (Berkley Books, 2013) won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. She is a past president of Sisters in Crime and a former board member of Mystery Writers of America.