Penny Pence Smith's four Meredith Ogden Hollywood Legwoman Mysteries are inspired by the author's own experiences as a celebrity journalist and gossip "legwoman." Now her fictional lead character, Meredith Ogden, has some exhilarating star-studded but dangerous moments in the limelight personallyf as her own world grows and shines. Author Penny Smith has a long and colorful career, herself. She began writing professionally during high school for the Indio Daily News, in Southern California. She went on to receive a Communication and journalism B.A. at the University of Washington, an MA from the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California, and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. From the beginning, she was engaged in the entertainment industry: a Warner Communication movie magazine editor, correspondent/LA Bureau Manager for New York Times Special Features Syndicate covering entertainment, Hawaii Correspondent for The Hollywood Reporter, and later, author of best-selling tourism books. Along the way, she managed advertising, public relations agencies and marketing consulting firms then became a professor at UNC Chapel Hill and Hawaii Pacific University. Her current stories and articles appear in magazines in California and Hawaii.
