Shirl Henke

Shirl Henke is an American best-selling author of contemporary and historical romance novels. She has eclectic tastes and has written historical, contemporary, western, and regency-themed books. She also writes mystery novels using the pen name Alexa Hunt. Some of her works have been translated into other languages.

She was born Shirl Nehrt, fifteen years after her next oldest sibling. Her father died while she was in her teens, leaving Henke alone with her mother. Henke entered the University of Missouri immediately after graduating from high school. In her first year at school she met her future husband, Jim Henke, in a shared Spanish class. Although Henke originally planned to become a journalist, she eventually earned a B.A. and an M.A. in history (both from the University of Missouri). After her graduation, she worked as a cashier for a loan company, a public welfare caseworker, the assistant circulation manager for a small newspaper, and an administrator of a federal information program for the elderly. After earning a job at the university in Ohio where her husband was a tenured professor, for fifteen years Henke taught history, gerontology, sociology, proposal writing for social service agencies, freshman composition, and remedial reading. Henke finally sold her first novel in 1986. Two years later, she left her teaching career to become a full-time writer. In her Henke has made the USA Today bestseller list and the Waldenbooks and B. Dalton Bestsellers list 10 times each. Her husband took early retirement in order to assist her burgeoning writing career.

Henke lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where she recently took a landscaping design course at the Missouri Botanical Garden and has designed the landscaping for her yard. She and her husband Jim, a retired professor of English, have a son, Matt.

Henke is a member of the Authors Guild, Romance Writers of America, Missouri Romance Writers, Sisters in Crime, Novelists Inc., and International Thriller Writers.