S. Lee Manning's legal career spanned from the New York firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore to the New Jersey Division of Law and then to the Office of Parental Representation. The former chair of New Jerseyans for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, she wrote the first draft of the legislation in the state that replaced the death penalty with life in prison without parole. Now writing full time, Manning's espionage thrillers - featuring a Russian Jewish immigrant working for American intelligence - have been finalists for Silver Falchions, and the third in the series,, Bloody Soil, won for best genre novel of 2023 from Independent Publishers of New England. Deadly Choice, a stand alone debuted in September 2024 tackles the issue of abortion. Imminent Risk is the fourth in her espionage series featuring Kolya Petrov and Alex Feinstein. Manning currently lives in Vermont with her writer husband, J.B.
Manning, and their two cats, Xiao and Dmitri.