Karen Kingsbury (born June 8, 1963 in Fairfax, Virginia) is an American Christian novelist. She was a sports writer for the Los Angeles Times and later wrote for the Los Angeles Daily News. Her first book, Missy's Murder (1991), was based on a murder story that she covered in Los Angeles. During this time, she had an article published in People Magazine. Kingsbury has written or co-written almost 100 novels or short stories, and (as of 2008) has nearly 13 million copies of her novels in print. She is a #1 New York Times and USA Today best-selling novelist with the last dozen books published topping bestseller lists. Some of her novels are being developed into movies by The Hallmark Channel, including The Bridge, A Time to Dance (2015), and Maggie's Christmas Miracle (2017). Her Baxter Family series was adapted into a three-season television series by Lightworkers Media and Roma Downey in 2024 on Prime Video.