Novak was born in Vernal, Utah. Her father worked for the government for the Bureau of Reclamation for 30 years. He retired when Brenda was 10 and moved the family to Arizona. Her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she was eight years old and was often sick during her childhood, but remained active in the community serving as a member of the Chandler City Council. She married Ted Novak in 1984, and they have five children. In 1993, she caught her day-care provider drugging her children to get them to sleep all day. That was when Brenda decided to quit her job as a loan officer and work from home so she could take care of her children. Novak sold her first book, a historical romance published by HarperCollins titled Of Noble Birth, in 1998.

Novak's annual online auction for diabetes research is the largest online diabetes auction in the world and is held on her website every May. To date, she's raised over $1 million for research. For the 2010 auction, her 6th, she raised $285,780. She runs this fundraiser in honor of her youngest son, who was diagnosed with Type 1 at five years old, and the millions of others who suffer from diabetes. The proceeds to help find a cure will go to the Diabetes Research Institute at the University of Miami. She and her husband and five children live in Sacramento, CA.

Bulletproof

• Inside, 7/2011
• In Seconds, 9/2011
• In Close, 11/2011

Dept. 6 Hired Guns

• Killer Heat, 10/2010 — MIRA Books
• Body Heat, 9/2010 — MIRA Books
• White Heat, 8/2010 — MIRA Books

Last Stand

• The Perfect Murder, 10/2009 — MIRA Books
• The Perfect Liar, 9/2009 — MIRA Books
• The Perfect Couple, 8/2009 — MIRA Books
• Watch Me, 8/2008 — MIRA Books
• Stop Me, 7/2008 — MIRA Books
• Trust Me, 6/2008 — MIRA Books

Stillwater

• Dead Right, 8/2007 — MIRA Books
• Dead Giveaway, 2/2007 — MIRA Books
• Dead Silence, 8/2006 — MIRA Books

Standalones

• Every Waking Moment, 7/2005
• Cold Feet, 2/2005
• Taking the Heat, 2/2004
• Of Noble Birth, 11/1999 - HarperCollins