javascript is disabled, enable it otherwise the site will not work properly!

javascript est désactivé, activez-le sinon le site ne fonctionnera pas correctement !

Cheryl A. Head

Cheryl A. Head is an American author, television producer, organizer, and former broadcast executive. She is also the author of the award-winning Charlie Mack Motown mysteries, whose female PI protagonist is queer and Black. Head is an Anthony Award nominee, a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, a three-time Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist, and winner of the Golden Crown Literary Society's Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. Her books are included in the Detroit Public Library's African American Booklist and in the Special Collections of the Library of Michigan. In 2019, Head was named to the Hall of Fame of the New Orleans Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, and she was awarded the Alice B Reader Award in 2022.

Personal life

Head was born in Detroit, Michigan, and lived with her parents and siblings until adulthood. She attended Wayne State University, intending to focus on pre-law, but was “bitten by the media bug” and shifted to Media and Communications. Head worked at television stations: WDIV and Detroit Public Television (WTVS), and public radio station WDET. She received a master's degree in telecommunications management at Ohio University. She moved to Washington, DC, in the 1990s to work in public broadcasting. After working as a TV and radio field reporter, anchor, production executive, media grantmaker at several organizations in Detroit and Washington, DC, Head retired early to focus on a writing career.

Head's work includes: The Charlie Mack Motown Series, a World War II historical novel, and a novel based upon the tragic loss of Head's grandfather who died in 1929 at the hands of the police. That book, Time’s Undoing, was a 2023 Indie Next pick, an Amazon Best Book of March, and Amazon Editors Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense.

Works

Charlie Mack Motown Mystery series

Bury Me When I'm Dead, Bywater Books, 2016
Wake Me When It's Over, Bywater Books, 2018
Catch Me When I'm Falling, Bywater Books, 2019
Judge Me When I'm Wrong, Bywater Books, 2019
Find Me When I'm Lost, Bywater Books, 2020
Warn Me When It's Time, Bywater Books, 2021

Historical novels

Long Way Home: A World War II Novel, CS/Amz Press, 2014
Time’s Undoing: A Novel, Dutton Books, 2023

Awards and recognition

2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Historical Fiction Finalist, for Long Way Home
2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, African American Literature Finalist, for Long Way Home
2017 Lambda Literary Finalist, Mystery/Thriller, Bury Me When I’m Dead, Bywater Books
2019 Detroit Public Library African American Book List, Wake Me When It's Over, Bywater Books
2019 Inducted for body of work into the Hall of Fame of the New Orleans Saints & Sinners Literary Festival
2020 Inclusion of Works in the Special Collections of the Library of Michigan
2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Mystery Finalist, Catch Me When I'm Falling, Bywater Books
2020 Golden Crown Literary Society, Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award Winner, Judge Me When I'm Wrong, Bywater Books
2021 Lambda Literary Finalist, Mystery/Thriller, Find Me When I'm Lost, Bywater Books
2022 Anthony Awards Finalist, Best Paperback/eBook/Audiobook, Warn Me When It’s Time, Bywater Books
2022 IPPY Awards Winner, Silver, Great Lakes-Best Regional Fiction, for Warn Me When It’s Time
2022 Alice B Award and medal for career achievement
2024 Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Mystery for Time's Undoing
2024 Finalist, Agatha Award in Historical Mystery for Time's Undoing