Johnny Temple - USA Noir - Best of the Akashic Noir Series

J. Malcolm Garciais the author of The Khaarijee: A Chronicle of Friendship and War in Kabul and Riding through Katrina with the Red Baron's Ghost. His articles have been featured in Best American Travel Writing and Best American Nonrequired Reading.

James W. Hallis the author of four books of poetry, a collection of short stories, a collection of essays, and seventeen novels. His most recent work is Hit Lit , a nonfiction examination of the dozen most successful best sellers of the twentieth century and the common features they share. He was a Fulbright professor of literature in Spain and a professor of literature and writing at Florida International University for thirty-five years. Hall has won both the Edgar and Shamus awards. He and his wife Evelyn and their three dogs divide their time between South Florida and the mountains of western North Carolina.

Pete Hamillis a veteran journalist and novelist. He is the author of seventeen books, including the best-selling A Drinking Life and a new story collection, The Christmas Kid. His nine novels include the New York Times best sellers Snow in August, Tabloid City, and Forever . He has covered wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Lebanon, and Northern Ireland, as well as the domestic disturbances in American cities in the 1960s. In addition to his many years as a columnist, he has served as editor in chief of the New York Post and the New York Daily News . He divides his time between New York City and Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Terrance Hayesis the 2010 recipient of the National Book Award in poetry. His most recent collection is Lighthead . His other books are Wind in a Box, Muscular Music, and Hip Logic . His honors include four Best American Poetry selections, a Whiting Writers' Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a professor of creative writing at Carnegie Mellon University and lives in Pittsburgh.

Karen Karbois the author of three novels, all of which have been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Her memoir, The Stuff of Life, about the last year she spent with her father before his death, won an Oregon Book Award. Her short stories, essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in Elle, Vogue, Esquire, Outside, O, More, the New Republic, the New York Times , Salon , and other magazines. Karbo is well known for her best-selling Kick Ass Women Series, the most recent of which is How Georgia Became O'Keeffe , published in 2011.

Bharti Kirchneris the author of nine books—five critically acclaimed novels and four cookbooks. Her latest novel is Tulip Season: A Mitra Basu Mystery. Her essays have appeared in ten anthologies, and she has won numerous awards, including a VCCA (Virginia Center for Creative Arts) Fellowship and two Seattle Arts Commission literature grants.

William Kent Kruegerwrites the New York Times best-selling Cork O'Connor mystery series, which is set in the north woods of Minnesota. His work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, and the Friends of American Writers Literary Award. He does all his writing in a St. Paul coffee shop whose identity he prefers to keep secret.

Dennis Lehaneis the author of the Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro mystery series ( A Drink Before the War; Darkness, Take My Hand; Sacred; Gone, Baby, Gone; Prayers for Rain; and Moonlight Mile ), as well as Coronado (five stories and a play) and the novels Mystic River, Shutter Island, The Given Day, and Live By Night. Three of his novels have been made into award-winning films. He edited the best-selling anthology Boston Noir and coedited Boston Noir 2: The Classics for Akashic Books.

Laura Lippmanhas published eighteen novels, a novella, and a book of short stories, and she edited Baltimore Noir for Akashic Books. Her work has been nominated for virtually every award open to North American crime writers and has won most of them, including the Edgar, Anthony, Quill, Nero Wolfe, and Agatha awards. Lippman lives in Baltimore and New Orleans.

Tim McLoughlinis the editor of Brooklyn Noir and its companion volumes. His debut novel Heart of the Old Country is the basis for the motion picture The Narrows , starring Vincent D'Onofrio. His books have been published in seven languages, and his writing has appeared in New York Quarterly , the Huffington Post , and Best American Mystery Stories . He was born and raised in Brooklyn, where he still resides.

Joyce Carol Oates, who edited New Jersey Noir for Akashic Books, is the author of a number of works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, including the novels Mudwoman, Little Bird of Heaven, and Blonde . Her collections of short fiction include High Lonesome: New and Selected Short Stories 1966–2006, Black Dahlia & White Rose, and The Corn Maiden . She is the 2011 recipient of the president's National Humanities Medal, the 2012 recipient of the Norman Mailer Prize for Lifetime Achievement, and she won the PEN Center USA Award for Lifetime Achievement.

John O'Brienwas born in 1960 and grew up in the Cleveland area. He and his wife of thirteen years, Lisa, married in 1979 and eventually settled in Los Angeles. O'Brien published his first critically acclaimed novel, Leaving Las Vegas , in 1990. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April 1994, just weeks after signing over the film rights for Leaving Las Vegas . His posthumous publications include The Assault on Tony's, Stripper Lessons, and Better.

Bayo Ojikutuis the critically acclaimed author of the novels 47th Street Black and Free Burning. His work has won the Washington Prize for Fiction and the Great American Book Award. Ojikutu's short work has appeared in various collections, magazines, and journals. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and he has been recognized by the African American Arts Alliance for his contribution to literary fiction. Ojikutu and his family reside in Chicago.

T. Jefferson Parkerwas born in Los Angeles and has lived his life in Southern California. He is the author of nineteen crime novels, including the Edgar Award–winning Silent Joe and California Girl . His first book, Laguna Heat, was made into an HBO movie. His latest novel is The Famous and the Dead . He lives with his family in San Diego County.

George Pelecanosis the author of nineteen novels set in and around Washington, DC. He served as a writer and producer on HBO's The Wire, The Pacific, and, most recently, Treme . He edited both DC Noir and DC Noir 2: The Classics for Akashic Books.

Pir Rothenberg'swork has appeared in Another Chicago Magazine, Dossier Journal, Harpur Palate, Juked, Makeout Creek, Overtime, Prick of the Spindle, Richmond Noir, River Styx, and Zahir . He is currently pursuing his PhD at Georgia State University.

S.J. Rozan, born and raised in the Bronx, is the award-winning author of thirteen novels and three dozen short stories, and the editor of two anthologies, including Bronx Noir for Akashic Books.

Lisa Sandlinwas born in the Gulf Coast oil town of Beaumont, Texas. She's the author of The Famous Thing About Death, Message to the Nurse of Dreams, In the River Province, You Who Make the Sky Bend, a collaboration with New Mexican santera Catherine Ferguson, and a coeditor of Times of Sorrow, Times of Grace. Her work has won numerous awards, including a Pushcart Prize and a Best Book of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters. "Phelan's First Case,” included in this volume, was a finalist for the 2011 Shamus Award.