Laura Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through 9^th grade. After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Maryland, she attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

After graduation, she got a job at the Waco Tribune-Herald and then the San Antonio Light but returned to Baltimore in 1989 to work at The (Baltimore) Sun.

She began writing novels while working fulltime and published four of the seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha, Shamus, Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards.  In a Strange City was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

When not working on her award winning series and standalone novels, Ms. Lippman teaches on occasion.  She lives in Baltimore.

 Mark Gimenez grew up in Galveston County, Texas.  He attended Southwest Texas State University and Notre Dame Law School.  Mark practiced law with a large Dallas firm and became a partner. After ten years, he left to practice solo and to write thrillers. His books are The Abduction and The Color of Law.  He lives outside Fort Worth with his wife and two sons.

L. A. Starks’ career in the oil industry from oil refineries to corporate offices prepared her to write the thriller, Thirteen Days: the Pythagoras Conspiracy, about a plot to take out Gulf Coast oil refineries.  A close observer of the industry since earning her magna cum laude degree in chemical engineering from Tulane University and her MBA in finance from the University of Chicago, she has also written technical articles and contributed expert opinion editorials.  Starks is a member of a mystery writers’ critique group and of Mystery Writers of America.  She lives in Dallas.