Virginia Lo Monaco lived in Sicily, Italy for 16 years and recently returned to California. She was trained as an operatic soprano, and has worked for numerous Opera Companies in America and was director of the Schola Cantorum for the Church of Sant'Anna in the town where she lived with her two dogs (including Tim, the overgrown Fox Terrier that co-stars in the Terry Strong, P.I., series) and three canaries. In order to pay for the years of vocal study, she worked for five years as a Fingerprint Technician for a sheriff's department and five years as a Group Counselor for juvenile offenders (read: jailer).

She started writing fiction in November, 1998. In 2018, her first self-published Terry Strong, PI, novel, LETHAL RELATIONS was shortlisted in the 2018 Chanticleer Murder and Mayhem International Book Awards. In 2021, it was republished by Level Best Books. Her second Terry Strong, PI, novel, POISON BUTTERFLY, has been self-published. Her third Terry Strong, PI, novel SUDDENLY DEADLY was self-published, and was shortlisted in the 2023 Chanticleer Clue International Book Awards. She is currently working on the fourth Terry Strong, PI, novel, FALLEN IN A DARK UNEASY WAY.

She is a former judge for the Shamus Awards of the Private Eye Writers of America. She is a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, The Crime Writers Association and Sisters In Crime-National and Los Angeles Chapters. She was also an editor of both the now-defunct print and online magazine, Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine.