Our Avoid the Doom Scroll. Read Stories.
Johnson Books & Media is an independent press that publishes cozy mysteries and adventurous fantasy set in Jackson Heights, Queens.
If you grew up on Nancy Drew and Bruce Coville's Magic Shop books, you'll feel right at home.
Our stories are for readers who still stay up past bedtime for one more chapter.
Meet Ruby Jackson
Ruby Jackson is a high school history teacher in Jackson Heights who can't let a wrong answer stand. Her principal, who is also her mother, wants her to stay out of murder investigations. Ruby has other plans. Start with Dead Man's Desk. Dead Man's Java arrives November 30.
Coming Soon: Bad Books
Ruby Jackson is a high school history teacher in Jackson Heights who can't let a wrong answer stand. Her principal, who is also her mother, wants her to stay out of murder investigations. Ruby has other plans. Start with Dead Man's Desk. Dead Man's Java arrives November 30.
Jackson Heights is one of the world's most diverse neighborhoods. We put it on every page. The 7 train rumbles overhead. The momo spots on Roosevelt Avenue stay busy. The neighbors know your business before you do.
Our heroes are teachers, librarians, bookstore owners, and the people who do the quiet work that holds a community together.
Every story is a puzzle you can solve with a cup of tea. Real mysteries. A little magic. Warm people. Endings that leave you better off than when you started.
Who Is CJ Johnson
CJ Johnson writes mysteries that are puzzle books wrapped in friendships and set in neighborhoods she knows.
CJ Johnson started her career as a literary agent. For ten years, she sold mystery, romance, and fantasy to publishers including Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, and St. Martin's Press. She then moved into tech, first as a QA tester and later as a project manager. For seven years, she worked at a New York City housing nonprofit, where she led a digital products team building tools that help homeowners keep their homes standing and their lives intact. She believes housing is a human right. Some of her more colorful colleagues may have inspired a suspect or two.
She founded Johnson Books & Media to return to publishing and get stories to readers faster. A former Girl Scout leader, she knows how to keep a group from wandering off, which comes in handy when plotting a mystery with a large cast.
When she isn't writing, she explores NYC libraries and bookstores and hunts for the best empanadas, momos, dumplings and dosas. Her writer's notebook lives in her phone, full of half-thoughts and screenshots that somehow become books.
Read Dead Man's Desk Free
Want to find out who really killed George Rohl?
Join my newsletter for behind-the-scenes updates and first word on new Ruby Jackson stories.
Sign up and I'll email you a link to download your free copy.
Prefer to buy? Get Dead Man's Desk at your favorite bookstore.