While there, she wrote for the university newspaper, which led to later jobs with The Miami Herald and The San Jose Mercury News.

She pursued an MA at Stanford University in Latin American History, but left to work at the CIA for several years as an intelligence analyst.

After the publication of her first book, she started writing full-time, citing John McPhee (who taught her at Princeton) and Elizabeth George as particular influences.

Mathews has stated that with this series she tried to "capture the difficult life in New England today" and the "bitter and embedded economic issues" facing the fishing industry.

[1] As Stephanie Barron (her middle and maiden names), Mathews has written historical novels featuring the English novelist Jane Austen as an amateur sleuth.