Maxine Paetro

American author
Maxine Paetro is an American author who has been published since 1979. Paetro has collaborated with best selling author James Patterson on the Women’s Murder Club novel series and standalone novels.

From 1975 until 1987, Paetro was a recruiter and EVP creative department manager at several large New York City advertising agencies. In 1979, Paetro published her first book, How to Put Your Book Together and Get a Job in Advertising, which received its fourth revision in August 2010. This non fiction work has been described as “the advertising industry bible and ultimate insider's guide to getting in and getting noticed". Between 1986 and 1992, she published three novels: Manshare, Baby Dreams, and Windfall. In 1993, she collaborated with Dodd Darin to write the biography Dream Lovers: The Magnificent Shattered Lives of Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee. In 2005, she began the first of more than thirty collaborations with best selling author James Patterson, co writing 4th of July for the Women’s Murder Club series. Paetro explains in an interview that she and Patterson (who had also worked in advertising before becoming a full time writer) had known each other since the 1970s. According to British newspaper The Sunday Times, of authors with the most titles to be at number one on The Sunday Times bestseller list over the past forty years, she ranks #16 with eleven separate titles in the #1 position. Her garden, Broccoli Hall, has been featured in national magazines including House & Garden, Victoria, Country Garden and Country Homes. Broccoli Hall is on the Garden Conservancy Open Days Program. In 2008, Paetro began a project to refine and develop a unique variety of koi known as Ki Shusui. The project developed a cult following and continues to this day. Her exploits can be followed on Koiphen, the largest board for koi hobbyists. Paetro is married to former surety bond executive, John A. Duffy, the now founder and CEO of consulting company, Manhattan Bridge, LLC.