Maxine Paetro

Maxine Paetro (born 1946) is an American novelist best known as James Patterson's co-author on the Women's Murder Club series from 4th of July (2005) onwards, and on more than thirty other Patterson titles.

She was born in Miami, Florida, on 19 April 1946 and attended Jacksonville University. From 1975 to 1987 she worked in New York advertising, running creative departments and recruitment at agencies including Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam, Foote, Cone & Belding and DFS/Dorland. Her first book was a careers guide, How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising (1979). She then published three novels of her own, beginning with Manshare (M. Evans, 1986) and followed by Babydreams and Windfall, and co-wrote Dream Lovers, a book about Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee, with their son Dodd Darin.

Her partnership with Patterson began with 4th of July, the fourth Women's Murder Club novel, published by Little, Brown in 2005. She has co-written the series since, through 23rd Midnight (2023), which centres on four women friends in San Francisco who solve crimes together. With Patterson she also wrote the first books in the Private series, starting with Private (2010), the young adult Confessions series from Confessions of a Murder Suspect (2012), and standalones including Swimsuit (2009) and Woman of God (2016).

For collectors. Her Women's Murder Club books with Patterson were first published in the United States by Little, Brown, beginning with 4th of July (2005), The 5th Horseman (2006) and The 6th Target (2007). Her solo novels date from 1986 to the early 1990s.