Joan Lowery Nixon (1927—2003) was an American journalist and author, specializing in historical fiction and mystery books for children and young adults. Some of her popular books include The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore, the Orphan Train Adventures series, and The Other Side of Dark, the last of which was adapted into a television movie entitled Awake to Danger (1995). Nixon won four Edgar Allan Poe Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, and had five additional nominations. She died in 2003 of pancreatic cancer.