Baker was born in Escanaba, Michigan.[1] She lived in the Upper Peninsula until she was 10.[2] Baker lived in Gladstone, Michigan before moving to De Pere, Wisconsin where she graduated from De Pere High School.[3] She earned a degree in English with emphasis on creative writing from the University of Wisconsin and began her writing career. She currently resides in North Lake, Wisconsin.[citation needed]
Baker writes American mystery fiction, especially in the cozy subgenre.[4] She has written two series under her own name. The Dolls To Die For series features a Phoenix, Arizona doll collecting club and member, Gretchen Birch,[5] who solves murders with her new-age Aunt Nina while sharing a doll restoration business with her mother. Baker is an "avid doll collector herself."[6] Baker also wrote the humorous Yooper mysteries centering on a fictitious town in the Michigan Upper Peninsula where Gertie Johnson, mother of the local sheriff, solves murders the old-fashioned way with friends Cora Mae and Kitty.[1] The Yooper series was called a "quirky, very appealing series" by Booklist.[7] Using the pen nameHannah Reed, she writes the Queen Bee mystery series about Story Fischer, a Wisconsin beekeeper.[8]
Baker’s first novel, Murder Passes the Buck (2006), was based on her personal experience in the Michigan Upper Peninsula. The colorful characters she created won her the Authorlink International First Novelist Award[9] in the mystery category, then went on to win Best of Show.
