Biography
Rachael O. Phillips, a church music director, began her unplanned writing career during midlife when the church secretary demanded newsletter articles at gunpoint. At Bethel College, Mishawaka, Indiana, she obtained degrees in Professional Writing and English. There, she made connections that resulted in her first biography, Frederick Douglass, followed by three others.
A 2007 American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Genesis winner and 2012 finalist for an ACFW Carol Award, Rachael has published 20 novels and 3 novellas, including cozy mysteries, romances and one women’s fiction. She also has coauthored a reference guide, Women of the Bible.
An Erma Bombeck Global Award winner, she enjoys writing humor and has published more than 800 articles, newspaper columns, devotions, and stories for newspapers, magazines and various collections. She enjoys speaking to diverse audiences, sharing laughs and inspiration.
She and Steve, her high school sweetheart and husband of 47 years, live in Indiana, where he serves as an adjunct professor at Taylor University. Their three grown children and seven perfect grandchildren all live in Indiana and Michigan.
PUBLISHED WORKS
BOOKS
Scottish Bakehouse Mysteries
Deck the Hearse (2022)
Wed on Arrival (2021)
Scone Cold Murder (2021)
Aye for an Aye (2020)
A Faerie Dangerous Game (2020)
The Jig Is Up (2020)
Women’s Fiction
At Summer’s End (2019)
Amish Inn Mysteries
To Honor and Betray (2018)
A Fatal Harvest (2017, 2018)
Skating the Law (2017)
Grave Inheritance (2017)
Silent Betrayal (2016)
Murder Simply Played (2016)
Secrets of the Amish Diary (2016)
Devotional
Women of the Bible Devotional (cowritten) (2015)
Other Mysteries
A Midsummer Night’s Seam (2014)
Guilty Treasures (2013)
Recipe for Deception (2013)
Romances
Kissing Bridges (2013)
The Return of Miss Blueberry (2012)
The Greatest Show on Earth (2012)
In Tune with You (novella) in Cedar Creek Seasons (2012)
Pirate of My Heart (novella) in A Quaker Christmas (2011)
Ride with Me into Christmas (novella) in A Door County Christmas (2010)
Devotional
Women of the Bible Devotional (cowritten) (2015)
Reference
Women of the Bible (cowritten) (2011)
Biographies
Well with My Soul: Four Stories of Great Hymn Writers (2003)
St. Augustine: Early Church Father (2002)
Billy Sunday: Evangelist on the Sawdust Trail (2001)
Frederick Douglass: Abolitionist and Reformer (2000)
MAGAZINES AND E-ZINES
“Confessions of a Christian Insomniac” Kyria (July 2011)
“You’re Driving Me Crazy” Kyria (October 2010)
The ABCs of Prayer” Kyria (May 2010)
“Tour de Romance” Today’s Christian Woman (2009)
“The Worst Writing Day” Afictionado (November 2009)
“I Love to Tell the Story” Afictionado (March 2009)
“Survivor Jellystone” Marriage Partnership (Fall 2008)
“Sunday Morning Madness” Today’s Christian (September/October 2008)
“God’s Appointment: Fact or Fiction” Christian Communicator (2008)
“Not Tonight, Honey” Marriage Partnership, (Winter 2007)
Awards
Readers’ Choice Award,Third Place, Novella Category for A Door County Christmas, Family Fiction Magazine (2011)
American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award, Finalist, Novella Category for Ride with Me Into Christmas in A Door County Christmas (2010)
American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis Contest, First Place, Young Adult Category for Song of the Orphan Train (2007)
Erma Bombeck Global Humor Award for “Dam It All, Anyway” (2004)
Evangelical Press Association, Third Place, Humorous Article, for “It’s the Little Things that Count” in Marriage Partnership (2004)