Leslie Kohler is a professional writer whose work has been published in several magazines and newspapers. She has had both fiction and nonfiction articles appear in such publications as Highlights for Children, Skipping Stones, Listen, Winner and Positive Teens.

Leslie graduated from the University of California at Irvine and worked in the fields of education and business. She then pursued her passion as a freelance writer. Leslie belongs to the Scottsdale Writer's Critique Group, Sisters in Crime Mystery Writers (AZ) and and Metropolitan Business and Professional Women.

As a native Californian and current Arizona resident, Leslie has witnessed the social and economic complexities of immigration, which is pivotal to the plot of SINS OF THE BORDER. At 14, she took her first job working in the dry yards in the countryside of northern California. Preparing fruit to be dried in 100 plus degree heat proved to be a difficult and extremely unpleasant way to make extra money. But what was troubling to Leslie were the Hispanic families who toiled at this job for full-time employment, from mother and father, down to their young children. This experience made Leslie cognizant of the difficuties immigrants face, which has been reinforced by the intense and almost daily local news coverage of the Mexican border issue.

Leslie now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her two young teens, Taylor and Logan, and their dog, Macky. She is active in organizations which serve to enhance the lives of women and children. Some of her affiliations include No Mas Muertes (No More Deaths), Chances for Children-AZ, The Sydney Hudson Foundation and Girls for a Change. She completed a half marathon in January of 2009 to raise money for special needs children, and will be running this year to help at risk youth in the Phoenix area.