Heather and Victoria have so much chemistry on stage. They kept the crowd engaged and asking for more with their witty banter and affection for each other.” — Columbus Metro Library

Victoria Christopher Murray is the New York Times and USA Today best selling author of more than 30 novels, including the New York Times Instant Best Sellers, The Personal Librarian and The First Ladies. Both novels, Victoria co-wrote with Marie Benedict.

A native New Yorker, Victoria Christopher Murray attended Hampton University where she majored in Communication Disorders. After graduating, Victoria attended New York University’s Stern Business School where she received her MBA in Marketing.

Victoria spent ten years in Corporate America before she tested her entrepreneurial spirit. She opened a Financial Services Agency for Aegon, USA where she managed the number one division for nine consecutive years. However, Victoria always dreamed of writing and in 1997, she pursued her dream.

Victoria originally self published her first novel, Temptation and in 2000, Time Warner published that novel. Temptation remained on the Essence bestsellers list for nine consecutive months. In 2001, Victoria received her first NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Literature with Temptation.

Over her career, Victoria has received numerous awards including the Phyllis Wheatley Trailblazer Award, the Delta Sigma Theta Osceola Award for Excellence in the Arts, Go On Girl Book Club Author of the Year, eleven African American Literary Awards and five NAACP Image Award nominations. In 2016, she won the Image Award for Outstanding Literature for her social commentary novel, Stand Your Ground.

In addition to being a New York Times Bestseller, The Personal Librarian was a Good Morning America Book Club selection and named a Best Book of the Year by NPR. The First Ladies was Target’s 2023 Book of the Year.

Five of Victoria’s Seven Deadly Sins novels became Lifetime movies produced by TD Jakes, Shaun Robinson and Derrick Williams. The Personal Librarian has been optioned by Al Roker Entertainment to become a mini series.

With almost three million books in print, Victoria is one of the country’s top African American contemporary authors.

Victoria's Featured Titles

Harlem Rhapsody

Berkley |
Biographical Historical Fiction

She found the literary voices that would inspire the world…. The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance, written by Victoria Christopher Murray, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian.

In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C arrives in Harlem excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all.

W. E. B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie’s boss, he’s her lover. And neither his wife, nor their fourteen-year-age difference can keep the two apart. Amidst rumors of their tumultuous affair, Jessie is determined to prove herself. She attacks the challenge of discovering young writers with fervor, finding sixteen-year-old Countee Cullen, seventeen-year-old Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen, who becomes one of her best friends. Under Jessie’s leadership, The Crisis thrives…every African American writer in the country wants their work published there.

When her first novel is released to great acclaim, it’s clear that Jessie is at the heart of a renaissance in Black music, theater, and the arts. She has shaped a generation of literary legends, but as she strives to preserve her legacy, she’ll discover the high cost of her unparalleled success.

The Personal Librarian

Berkley |
Novel

The Instant New York Times Bestseller! A Good Morning America* Book Club Pick!

Named a Best Book of the Year by NPR! Named a Notable Book of the Year by the Washington Post!

“Historical fiction at its best!”*

A remarkable novel about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy that enriched our nation, from New York Times bestselling authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

Wrath: A Novel (7 Deadly Sins #4)

Gallery Books |
Fiction

The award-winning author of The Personal Librarian, Lust, Envy, and Greed delivers an unforgettable story of a marriage caught at the crossroads of passion and rage—the inspiration for the Lifetime movie event of the same name.

Chastity Jeffries and Xavier King come from very different backgrounds, though they have one thing in common: they’re both living with family secrets. Chastity is the only child of a prominent pastor and has been raised with privilege, but her father’s testimony as a philanderer and her mom’s role as dutiful wife have tainted her view of love. Xavier never knew his father, and his mother abandoned him. His grandmother raised him in a household built on cruelty and violence instead of love and acceptance, instilling in him a fear of abandonment and an enormous sense of insecurity.

Sparks fly when Chastity and Xavier meet, and their whirlwind romance feels almost too good to be true. Chastity is swept off her feet, but before long, cracks begin to show in Xavier’s perfect façade, and it is only a matter of time before that façade comes crumbling down. When Xavier’s wrath erupts at a level Chastity has never seen, who will it destroy forever?

Greed: A Seven Deadly Sins Novel (7 Deadly Sins #3)

Gallery Books |
Fiction

From the award-winning author of The Personal Librarian, Greed—the inspiration for the Lifetime movie event of the same name—is the third novel in Victoria Christopher Murray’s Seven Deadly Sins series—“the drama of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” (Booklist).

You can’t put a price on love…

Zuri Maxwell isn’t happy. Her job is a grind, and money is always tight. Her boyfriend Stephon is the best part of life, but between his income as an artist and her commission-based paycheck, they are barely scraping by.

When Zuri meets a sleek entrepreneur eager to pick her brain, she jumps at the chance to talk business with someone who has everything she wants. As he wines and dines her, Zuri starts moving in elite circles, and she faces a crossroads: Will she give up the stable, loving life she knows for one that glitters, but may not be gold?

Envy: A Seven Deadly Sins Novel (7 Deadly Sins #2)

Gallery Books |
Fiction

Now a Lifetime movie event!

From the NAACP Image award winner and national bestselling author of The Personal Librarian comes a novel inspired by the seven deadly sins about a woman who wants more than just a relationship from her newly discovered​ half-sister—she wants her life.

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Gabrielle Wilson has the perfect life: a Beverly Hills mansion, a loving family, and a massively successful PR firm. When her father admits that an affair he had years before resulted in a daughter, Gabrielle is shocked, but is actually happy. Could this be the sister she has been praying for all her life?

Keisha Jones’s life is a struggle. Her late mother worked on the streets, and school was its own nightmare. When Gabrielle offers to fly Keisha out of Arkansas to meet the family, Keisha instantly agrees. But Gabrielle doesn’t realize that Keisha has known about the Wilsons for years. Keisha is determined to have everything she has always envied, and nothing can stand in her way.

Includes a reading group guide with an author Q&A and discussion questions for book clubs.

Lust: A Seven Deadly Sins Novel (7 Deadly Sins #1)

Gallery Books |
Fiction

From the NAACP Image award winner and national bestselling author of The Personal Librarian, a novel inspired by the seven deadly sins about a woman caught between an entertainment mogul with a shady past and his childhood friend who is out for revenge.

Is lust a sin?

Tiffanie has lived a sheltered life in a very strict household with her pastor grandfather and her grandmother in Washington, D.C. But when she meets Damon, she falls for the successful entertainment businessman despite his history as a drug dealer. Everyone sees a bright future for the couple—yet when Tiffanie meets Trey, her lustful feelings leave her confused just days before her wedding.

Trey is Damon’s childhood best friend with whom he built a successful drug business. But when the game got hot and Damon decided to leave, Trey stayed and continued to sell drugs until he was arrested and spent seven years in prison. Now he’s out and able to attend the wedding. While Damon is thrilled to have Trey back and hopes to bring his best friend into his business, Trey has other plans. And in the end, there will only be one man standing…

Stand Your Ground

Gallery Books |
Novel

From the #1 Essence bestselling and award-winning author Victoria Christopher Murray comes Stand Your Ground, a novel about two mothers who must grapple with their faith and belief in justice in the midst of a highly charged murder trial involving the death of an African-American teenage boy.

A black teenage boy is dead. A white man shot him. Was he standing his ground or was it murder?

Janice Johnson is living every black mother’s nightmare. Her seventeen-year-old son was murdered and the shooter has not been arrested. Can the D.A. and the police be trusted to investigate and do the right thing? Should Janice take advantage of the public outcry and join her husband alongside the angry protestors who are out for revenge?

Meredith Spencer is married to the man accused of the killing and she sees her husband and the situation with far more clarity than anyone realizes. What she knows could blow the case wide open, but what will that mean for her life and that of her son? Will she have the courage to come forward in time so that justice can be done?

#1 national bestselling and award-winning author Victoria Christopher Murray’s Stand Your Ground is a pulse-pounding meditation on race, motherhood, marriage, and vigilante justice that will have readers spellbound until its shocking end.

Authors-Unbound_icon-web-link.png

The Personal Librarian - joint author presentation with co-author Marie Benedict

Authors-Unbound_icon-web-link.png

The Craft of Writing Course

This 5-week course is in intimate group instruction where I share my tips and tricks of the trade to help authors hone the craft of fiction writing. This course provides the structure and accountability, hands-on peer editing, and instruction designed to help authors develop a polished novel.

Kansas City Library: Victoria Christopher Murray

Phenomenal Women w/ Victoria Christopher-Murray | Black Hollywood Live

Writer’s Haven Show with V. Helena (S3:E2) – Victoria Christopher Murray Pt. 2

Victoria’s Upcoming Events

Victoria’s Consulting Services

Tools to improve your craft.

Honors, Awards & Recognition

New York Times Bestseller
NAACP Image Award
Golden Pen Award for Best Inspirational Fiction
Phyllis Wheatley Trailblazer Award for being a pioneer in African American Fiction
African American Literary Awards for best novel
Best Christian fiction and Author of the Year — Female

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

Similar Authors

Marie
Bestselling Historical Novelist
Donna
Critically Acclaimed Novelist
Sarah
Romance Novelist
Rebekah
Romance Novelist
Crystal
Poet Laureate, Kentucky

We’ve received your Message!

An AU Representative will connect with you as soon as possible.