Kathleen Elizabeth George (born July 7, 1943) is an American professor and writer best known for her series of crime novels set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and educated at the University of Pittsburgh, where she received a B.A. (summa cum laude) in 1964, an M.A. in theatre in 1966, a Ph.D. in theatre in 1975, and an M.F.A. in creative writing in 1988.

She teaches theatre arts at the University of Pittsburgh and fiction writing at the Chatham University Low-Residency MFA Program in Creative Writing. She is married to the writer Hilary Masters, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, and they reside in Pittsburgh.