Award Winning Author

Chris Karlsen 

I love using the places I’ve traveled as settings for my  books. I enjoy letting my character experience the same excitement I felt while adding the history and culture of each town or country.

My parents loved traveling, a passion they passed onto me. I wanted to see the places I read about, see the land and monuments from the time periods that fascinated me. I’ve had the good fortune to travel extensively throughout Europe, the Near East, and North Africa.  

I am a retired police detective. I spent twenty-five years in law enforcement with two different agencies. My desire to write came in my early teens. After I retired, I decided to pursue that dream. I write three different series. My paranormal romance series is called, Knights in Time. My romantic thriller series is Dangerous Waters. The newest is The Bloodstone Series. Each series has a different setting and some cross time periods, which I find fun to write.

I currently live in the Pacific Northwest with my husband and three wild and crazy rescue dogs.

My Series

Do you like to read historicals?

A Venomous Love was the Chanticleer Clue Winner for the Best Suspense/Thriller or 2020

Here is a Victorian detective thriller set to chill your bones. Karlsen delivers a novel that will not be set down until the very last word. – Chanticleer Book Reviews

Loved, loved, loved this story

Karlsen pens a magnificent Victorian era story in A Venomous Love. The twist in this story is that it’s a detective story as well. I have read work from this author before, and I really enjoyed it. Even though that story was 5 stars as well, I must say this story just made me read it from cover to cover: Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews

One of the most dangerous and exciting ATS roles was to pass the strenuous requirement for Ack Ack duty manning the Anti-Aircraft guns known for their distinctive ack ack sound as they fired. Both Ava and Penny passed in different areas and the idea to use these women in gun crews changed the way this war was fought: Reviewer Samfree

Chris Karlsen’s new work, The Ack-Ack Girl, is the first in her World War II series, Love and War, and serves up plenty of story on both sides of that equation in its portrayal of Ava Armstrong, the “Ack-Ack” girl of the title. And what a story it is! Chanticleer Book Reviews

Love and War A country under attack and the story of one woman’s fight to protect England and her heart. 1941. The German war machine has crushed all of Europe-only England holds fast. To force a surrender, the German Luftwaffe bombs cities and villages the length of the country. As the battle rages, Britain is in desperate need to put more pilots in the air. To free up more men a new unit is formed: The Ack Ack Girls. These special teams of courageous women will now fight in the anti-aircraft stations. Determined to be part of the effort, Ava Armstrong, volunteers for one of the special teams. Her unit just happens to be located near an RAF airfield teaming with pilots. Sparks fly, and not just from artillery, When Ava crosses paths with Chris Fairfield, a handsome and cocky pilot stationed there. But nothing is easy in time of war, not even love.

***** 5 STARS Heroes Gives New Meaning To Dream Lover! What a wonderful book. I found myself completely and utterly immersed in the world created by Chris Karlsen.

Elinor Hawthorne has inherited a house that is haunted by the ghosts of two medieval knights, Basil Manneville and Guy Guiscard. Basil is the man of her dreams, her knight in shining armor. She falls in love with him and he with her. Basil soon realizes she needs to live a normal life, a happy life with a mortal. A lifetime later fate intervenes. Basil, still in love with Elinor, is told her spirit lives on in a young woman and is given another chance at life to find her

Chris Karlsen’s  Blog

Capturing a Moment in Time

Capturing a Moment in Time

  Capturing a Moment in Time   I think I am speaking for most of us who writer historical settings, whether its historical romance, historical fiction, historical mystery, or time travel, there's a passion for the period. I don't know a author who writes about a...

Giving Your Antagonist a POV

Giving Your Antagonist a POV

  Giving Your Antagonist a POV   I read across the board genres, especially romances, thrillers, and historical fiction. I write paranormal romances and romantic thrillers. With my first two paranormal novels, Heroes Live Forever and Journey in Time, Point of...

Having Fun With An Old Fashioned Detective

Having Fun With An Old Fashioned Detective

  I spent nineteen of my twenty-five years in law enforcement as a detective. Long before I became a police officer, I wanted to be a writer. But I feared it wasn't a practical profession and lacked the confidence to an attempt at it. Shortly after I retired from law...

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