Leslie Ann Peterson was born on 11 December 1959 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was a graduate of The University of Pennsylvania Wharton undergraduate program with a Master's in Fine Arts from Temple University. Under different pennames, she wrote over 40 novels, 20 novellas y some non-fiction books in a wide range of genres and. She mysteriously shape-shifts between the genres of romance, women's fiction, crime/suspense thrillers, and paranormal lore. She wrote as Leslie Esdaile, Leslie E. Banks, Leslie Banks, Leslie Esdaile Banks and L. A. Banks. In 2008, she was the recipient of the Essence Magazine Storyteller of the Year Award, as well as the Best 50 Women in Business Award for the State of Pennsylvania. In 2009, she was the recipient of the Romantic Times Booklover's Career Choice Award for Paranormal Fiction, and in 2010 was named Living Legend by the Black Alumni Society of University of Pennsylvania. This full-time writer passed away in 2 August 2011.