The Lord Hani Mysteries

N.L. Holmes is a prolific novelist embarking on another significant career phase. Prior to taking up the
power of writing and using this pen name, she was an accomplished archaeologist and teacher for 25
years. Early in her career she served as a nun for two decades. In between she was an artist and antiques
dealer. Yes, she has lived an interesting life and the sum of her experiences informs and inspires her
writings today.
Holmes, who earned her doctorate in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Studies from Bryn Mawr
College despite an offer to attend Princeton, has excavated in Greece and Israel, and taught ancient
history and humanities at Stockton University in N.J. and University of South Florida for many years. She
also did archaeological artwork for excavations from Lebanon.
With seven published novels, Holmes is the creator of The Lord Hani Mysteries. The inspiration for her
Bronze Age novels came with an assignment she gave to her students one day: Here are the only
documents we have telling us about royal divorce in Ugarit in the 13 th century. How much can we say
about what happened? She notes: “It quickly became apparent that almost anything we might come up
with was as much fiction as histiography!”
She also penned The Empire At Twilight series, historical fiction set in 13 th century C.B. during the Hittite
Empire.
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, she attended The University of Texas in the honors program but
dropped out midway to enter into the antiques business. Two years later, she entered the Discalced
Carmelite convent in Texas. She left the convent 20 years later and returns to school to get her B.A. in
Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology.
Holmes resides with her husband, three cats, and a dog. They split their time between Tampa, Florida and
northern France, where she gardens, weaves, and plays the violin. They have an adult son. For more
information, please consult www.nlholmes.com.