Lyons was raised in the Pennsylvania municipality known as State College, and attended medical school at the University of Florida.

She worked as a general pediatrician focusing on community health care.

[citation needed] In 2008 she published Snake Skin, which includes the hero Lucy Guardino who is a Pittsburgh Soccer mum who is employed by the FBI in their Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Squad.

Further books in that series include Bloodstained and Kill Zone.

[citation needed] The Beacon Falls books feature Lucy Guardino.