Michelle Karol is an award-winning author who writes under the plume de nom Shelly Dickson Carr. Shelly lives on Beacon Hill with her husband and beloved dog, Becket. She has three grown daughters.

Shelly’s debut novel, RIPPED, A Jack the Ripper Time-travel, murder mystery won the prestigious Benjamin Franklin gold medal award for Best First Book, as well as two silver medals for Best New Voice and Best Mystery/Suspense in the 2013 Independent Book Publishers Association’s awards. Shelly is currently working on her sequel to RIPPED. Shelly is a 2016 Derringer finalist for her short story Words Can Kill in Best New England Crime Stories - RED DAWN.

Shelly is a trustee for the Huntington Theatre in Boston, and has traveled extensively to London with the Artistic Director in search of new plays. Shelly is an overseer at WGBH and a founding member, along with her husband Steven, of the MASTERPIECE TRUST that first enabled Downton Abbey to be aired on PBS as well as SHERLOCK with Benedict Cumberbatch. Shelly is a long-standing member of The Beacon Hill Circle For Charity, a past corporation member of the Winsor School, a former overseer at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and a former board member of the Writer’s Room of Boston. She has a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College.

Shelly is passionate about live theater, musicals and historical novels. Her other passions include riding her horse, skiing, tennis, attending the ballet, and reading mysteries. She is the granddaughter of famed “Golden Age” John Dickson Carr, the award-winning novelist and mystery writer.