About the Authors
Jeffery Deaver is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages. His novels have won the Nero Wolfe Award, three Ellery Queen Readers’ Awards, a British Thumping Good Read Award, and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger awards from the British Crime Writers’ Association. A former journalist, folksinger, and attorney, he was born outside of Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University.
Fiona Cummins is a graduate of the prestigious Faber Academy in London and an award-winning journalist. She spent twelve years at Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper as its chief showbiz reporter, interviewing celebrities from Michael Jackson to George Clooney. She was named Showbusiness Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards in 2007, and has been nominated four times. Now freelance, her work has appeared in numerous UK publications, as well as appearing on several national TV programs. She lives in Essex with her husband and two children.
Mark Billingham worked as an actor, a television writer, and a stand-up comedian before becoming one of the most critically acclaimed crime novelists in the world. He has written numerous bestsellers and has twice won the Theakstons Old Peculier prize for Best Novel of the Year. He lives in North London with his wife and two children.
John Connolly is a New York Times bestselling author known for his detective Charlie Parker mysteries and supernatural and fantasy novels. His twenty-five novels, nonfiction, and short stories have won the Agatha, Barry, Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards, as well as being finalists for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year, H. R. F. Keating Award, and Bram Stoker Award.
Sarah Hilary writes copy for a well-known travel publisher. She has also worked as a bookseller and with the Royal Navy. An award-winning short story writer, she won the Cheshire Prize for Literature. Sarah lives in Bath, England.
Martyn Waites was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. He trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama and worked as an actor for many years before becoming a writer. His novels include the critically acclaimed Joe Donovan series, set in the northeast of England, and The White Room, which was a London Guardian book of the year. In 2013 he was chosen to write Angel of Death, the official sequel to Susan Hill’s Woman in Black, and in 2014 won the Grand Prix du Roman Noir for Born under Punches. He has been nominated for every major British crime-fiction award and has also enjoyed international commercial success with eight novels written under the name Tania Carver.
Dennis Lehane is the author of numerous novels, including several New York Times bestsellers, as well as a collection of short stories and a play. Mystic River was a finalist for the PEN/Winship Award, and it won the Anthony Award, the Barry Award for Best Novel, and the Massachusetts Book Award in Fiction, given by the Massachusetts Center for the Book.
Lee Child is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Jack Reacher series and the complete Jack Reacher story collection, No Middle Name. Foreign rights in the Reacher series have sold in one hundred territories. Two blockbusting Jack Reacher movies have been made so far, based on his novels. He is the recipient of many awards, including the CWA’s Diamond Dagger for a writer of an outstanding body of crime fiction, the International Thriller Writers’ ThrillerMaster, and the Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award. He is a native of England and a former television director.
Val McDermid is an author whose bestselling novels have won the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year Award, and the Crime Writers' Association's Gold Dagger and Cartier Diamond Dagger Award for outstanding achievement. She is also a multiple finalist for the Edgar Award, including for the true crime nominee Forensics. Her novels have been translated into forty languages and have sold over 16 million copies. Visit her online at ValMcDermid.com.
Christopher Fowler was born in Greenwich, London. He is the multi-award-winning author of thirty novels and twelve short story collections, and the author of the Bryant & May mystery novels. His first bestseller was Roofworld. Subsequent novels include Spanky, Disturbia, Psychoville, and Calabash. He spent many years working in film. He has written comedy and drama for BBC radio, including Radio One’s first broadcast drama in 2005. He writes for the Financial Times, London’s Independent, Black Static magazine, and many others. His graphic novel for DC Comics was the critically acclaimed Menz Insana. His short story “The Master Builder” became a feature film entitled Through the Eyes of a Killer, starring Tippi Hedren and Marg Helgenberger. He is the winner of the Edge Hill Prize and the Last Laugh Award. After living in the USA and France, he is now married and lives in King’s Cross, London, and Barcelona, Spain.
Dean Koontz is the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, including suspense thrillers and books for young readers. His books are published in thirty-eight languages, and his worldwide sales top 500 million copies. Several of his books have also been adapted into feature films and television miniseries. He has been hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as “America’s most popular suspense novelist.” For more information, visit his website at www.deankoontz.com.
A. K. Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins, and Doctor Who action figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit Award and is in development as a major eight-part television series by Company Pictures. Her second novel was Jonathan Dark; or The Evidence of Ghosts. She’s written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish, and her short stories have been featured in anthologies, including Great British Horror and The Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea, England, with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.
James Oswald is the Sunday Times (London) bestselling author of the Edinburgh based Detective Inspector McLean novels, the first two of which were shortlisted for the prestigious CWA Debut Dagger award for best unpublished author. He also writes the epic fantasy series the Ballad of Sir Benfro. In his spare time he farms 350 acres in North East Fife, Scotland, where he raises pedigree Highland cattle and New Zealand Romney sheep.
Joe R. Lansdale is the author of nearly four dozen novels, including the Edgar Award–winning The Bottoms. He has received nine Bram Stoker Awards, the American Mystery Award, the British Fantasy Award, a Critics’ Choice Award, and the Grinzane Cavour Prize for Literature, among others. His novella Bubba Ho-Tep was adapted to film by Don Coscarelli.
Paul Finch studied history at Goldsmiths, London, before becoming a cop in the northwest of England. He then let his passion for writing allow him to follow a career in journalism. Now a full-time writer, he first cut his literary teeth penning episodes of the British TV crime drama The Bill and has written extensively in the field of children’s animation. However, he is probably best known for his work in thrillers and horrors.
Alex Gray was born and educated in Glasgow. She has been awarded the Scottish Association of Writers’ Constable and Pitlochry trophies for her crime writing and is the co-founder of the Bloody Scotland international crime writing festival. Married with a son and daughter, she lives in Scotland and is currently writing the next book in the Detective Lorimer series.
Louise Jensen is a USA Today bestselling author of psychological thrillers. Her first two novels, The Sister and The Gift, were both international #1 bestsellers, and have been sold for translation to sixteen countries. Her debut novel, The Sister, was nominated for the Goodreads Awards Debut of 2016. Louise lives in Northamptonshire with her husband, children, madcap dog, and a rather naughty cat. She loves to hear from readers and writers and can be found at LouiseJensen.co.uk, where she regularly blogs flash fiction.
Steph Broadribb was born in Birmingham and grew up in Buckinghamshire. Sheis an alumni of the MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at City University London, and she trained as a bounty hunter in California. Her debut thriller, Deep Down Dead, was shortlisted for the Dead Good Reader Awards in two categories, was a finalist in the ITW Awards, and hit number one on the UK and AU kindle charts. She lives in Buckinghamshire.
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was born in Odense, Denmark, the son of a poor shoemaker and a washerwoman. As a young teenager, he became quite well known in Odense as a reciter of drama and as a singer. When he was fourteen, he set off for the capital, Copenhagen, determined to become a national success on the stage. He failed miserably, but made some influential friends in the capital who got him into school to remedy his lack of proper education. In 1829 his first book was published. After that, books came out at regular intervals. His stories began to be translated into English as early as 1846. Since then, numerous editions, and more recently Hollywood songs and Disney cartoons, have helped to ensure the continuing popularity of the stories in the English-speaking world.
About the Narrators
Kate Reading has recorded hundreds of audiobooks across many genres, over a thirty year plus career. Audie Awards: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (mystery), Breasts (non-fiction), Bellwether (fiction), and Words of Radiance (fantasy). Among other awards, she has been recognized with: the ALA Booklist best of 2019 for Bowlaway (fiction), AudioFile Magazine Voice of the Century, Earphones Awards, Narrator of the Year, Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy, and Publisher’s Weekly’s Listen-Up Award. She records at her home studio, Madison Productions, Inc., in Maryland.
Caitlin Kelly, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is a seasoned voice-over artist with experience in Japan and the United States. She has a BFA in drama and studied musical theater at the Collaborative Arts Project 21, an off-Broadway theater company and musical theater training conservatory. She got started in voice-over work in 2009 while living in Japan where she toured with Disney’s World of English and World Family Club as a performer and a puppeteer.
Marisa Calin is an actress, novelist, and multiple Earphones Award–winning narrator born in England and educated in New York at the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts. An artist with a flair for everything literary, she has written a young adult novel, You & Me, which received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews.
Matthew Lloyd Davies is a veteran actor, director, and Audie Award–winning audiobook narrator. Highlights of his acting career include regular appearances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre in the West End, on international tours, and in award-winning television shows and films. He has experience in radio, a master’s degree in directing, and extensive experience in presenting at corporate events.
Alan Smyth, an audiobook narrator, has worked as a professional actor for more than fifteen years. He has toured extensively in Ireland and the United States and has worked with such companies as the BBC, Paramount Pictures, and Showtime Productions.
Peter Noble, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, grew up in South Africa and studied drama and music at the University of Cape Town. He has worked extensively as an actor, touring South Africa with a small repertory theater company, as well as working on radio, TV, and film.
Derek Perkins is a professional narrator and voice actor. He has earned numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, as well as numerous Society of Voice Arts nominations. AudioFile magazine named him a Best Voice consecutively in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Augmented by a knowledge of three foreign languages and a facility with accents, he has narrated numerous titles in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction genres.
Courtney Patterson graduated magna cum laude with a BA in theater performance from Valdosta State University. She is an associate artist at Georgia Shakespeare where she has appeared in dozens of shows, taught in the education department, and developed a cabaret series. She can also be seen frequently on the stages of the Alliance Theatre and has also worked at the Aurora Theatre, Theatre in the Square, Theatrical Outfit, Synchronicity Performance Group, and the Horizon Theatre. In addition to her work on stage, she narrates audiobooks and performs in film and television.
Alison Larkin is a playwright, stage actress, stand-up comic, voice artist, and Earphones Award–winning narrator whose wide range of voices can be heard in cartoons and movies, including Pocahontas and The Wonder Pets.
Robert Fass is a veteran actor and twice winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He has earned multiple Earphones Awards and been named in AudioFile magazine’s list of the year’s best narrations for six years.
Justine Eyre is a classically trained actress who has narrated many audiobooks, earning the prestigious Audie Award for best narration and numerous Earphones Awards. She is multilingual and known for her great facility with accents. She has appeared on stage, with leading roles in King Lear and The Crucible, and has had starring roles in four films on the indie circuit. Her television credits include Two and a Half Men and Mad Men.
Erin Hunter, #1 New York Times bestselling author, is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. In addition to having great respect for nature in all its forms, she enjoys creating rich, mythical explanations for animal behavior. She is also the author of the Survivors series and the bestselling Seekers series.
Helen Lloyd is a British actor and voice artist who recorded her first voice-over at the age of fourteen. Since then, she has spent much of her life interpreting other people’s words and bringing characters to life. A classically trained actor, she has performed with many of Britain’s leading repertory theaters, as well as at the Edinburgh Festival, the Roundhouse, and on the West End.
Ron Butler is a Los Angeles–based actor, Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator, and voice artist with over a hundred film and television credits. Most kids will recognize him from the three seasons he spent on Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP. He works regularly as a commercial and animation voice-over artist and has voiced a wide variety of audiobooks. He is a member of the Atlantic Theater Company and an Independent Filmmaker Project Award winner for his work in the HBO film Everyday People.
Karissa Vacker is a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator and actress. After graduating with a BFA in acting from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, she performed in regional theaters across the country before moving to Los Angeles. She has guest starred in network television shows and films and continues to work on screen and stage. Her audiobook credits include romance, young adult fiction, and mystery thrillers.
Shiromi Arserio is a stage actor, voice talent, and audiobook narrator from London. She holds a BA in theater from Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. In addition to narrating dozens of audiobooks, her voice can be heard in documentaries, e-learning projects, and video games.
Ralph Lister is an actor, voice actor, and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. He spent fifteen years in London theater before moving to the United States to focus on film and television. He has held numerous roles in Shakespeare and modern dramas, as well as starring roles in independent films. His voice and character work can be heard in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearland 13 Going On 30. He lives in Los Angeles.
John McLain is an actor, professional voice talent, and Earphones Award–winning narrator. He has been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. On stage, he has appeared in The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Amahl & the Night Visitors, and The Music Man.
James Langton, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, trained as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and later as a musician at the Guildhall School in London. He has worked in radio, film, and television, also appearing in theater in England and on Broadway. He is also a professional musician who led the internationally renowned Pasadena Roof Orchestra from 1996 to 2002.
Neil Hellegers grew up in New Jersey and attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a BA in theater arts and a minor in psychology before getting an MFA in acting from the Trinity Rep Conservatory in Providence, Rhode Island. He moved to New York City in 2003 and, since then, has made a career of theatrical performance, percussion, theater education, and audiobook narration. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.