Mystery Writers of America is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre. MWA is dedicated to promoting higher regard for crime writing and recognition and respect for those who write within the genre. They provide scholarships for writers, sponsor symposia and conferences, present the Edgar Awards, and conduct other activities to further a better appreciation and higher regard for crime writing.

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.

Raymond Benson is the author of numerous books, including High Time to Kill and Doubleshot. His first book, The James Bond Bedside Companion, was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Critical/Biographical Work. He lives and works in the Chicago area.

Joseph Finder is the author of numerous New York Times bestselling novels, including Paranoia, Power Play, and Vanished. His international bestseller Killer Instinct won the International Thriller Writers's Thriller Award for Best Novel of 2006. Other bestselling titles include Paranoia and High Crimes, which both became major motion pictures. Born in Chicago, he studied Russian at Yale and Harvard. He was recruited by the CIA, but decided he preferred writing fiction. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

John Lescroart is the author of numerous crime thrillers, including the Dismas Hardy series, of which several novels were New York Times bestsellers. His novel Dead Irish was a finalist for the Shamus Award, just one of many awards he has received for his fiction.

Gayle Lynds is the New York Times bestselling author of four international thrillers, including Masquerade and The Coil. She also coauthored three bestselling novels in the Covert-One series with Robert Ludlum, including The Hades Factor, which was a CBS miniseries in 2006. She has been a newspaper reporter, a magazine editor, and a think-tank editor with top-secret clearance before turning to fiction. She lives in Santa Barbara.

Sara Paretsky is the author of numerous books, including her renowned V. I. Warshawski novels. She was named 2011 Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and is also the recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award given by the British Crime Writers' Association. She is credited with transforming the role and image of women in the crime novel.

Brendan DuBois of New Hampshire is the award-winning author of twenty novels and more than 150 short stories, and his works have appeared in nearly a dozen countries. He is also a Jeopardy! game show champion.

Bev Vincent is a contributing editor with Cemetery Dance magazine, where he has been writing "News from the Dead Zone" for each issue since 2001. He is the author of several books, most recently The Dark Tower Companion, and over eighty short stories, including appearances in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, several SHIVERS anthologies, and two MWA anthologies. His work has been nominated for the Edgar Award, the Bram Stoker Award (twice), and the ITW Thriller Award. He can be found lurking in various corners of the internet, including at BevVincent.com, his book review blog OnyxReviews.com, and @BevVincent on Twitter.

Jonathan Stone does most of his writing on the commuter train between the Connecticut suburbs and Manhattan, where he is the creative director of a midtown advertising agency. His novel Moving Day was selected as an Amazon Kindle First and has been optioned for film by Nick Wechsler and Steve Schwartz. Two of his short stories, Hedge and East Meets West, are anthologized in the Mystery Writers of America's recent annual collections. A graduate of Yale University, Stone is married and has two college-age children.

Joseph Wallace is the author of The Autobiography of Baseball, The Baseball Anthology, and World Series: An Opinionated Chronicle, as well as A Gathering of Wonders: Behind the Scenes at the American Museum of Natural History. He lives with his family in New York City.

T. Jefferson Parker is the author of numerous novels and short stories, the winner of three Edgar Awards, and the recipient of a Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best mystery. Before becoming a full-time novelist, he was an award-winning reporter. He can be found at tjeffersonparker.com/.

Laura Lippman is a New York Times bestselling novelist who has won more than twenty awards for her fiction, including the Edgar Award-and been nominated for thirty more. Since her debut in 1997, she has published twenty-one novels, a novella, a children's book, and a collection of short stories. Her books have been translated into over twenty languages. Laura lives in Baltimore with her husband, David Simon, and their daughter.

Katherine Neville was a global executive in data processing, and was a vice president of the Bank of America for many years. As an international consultant, she delivered computer systems for corporations and governments around the world. She was for some years a commercial photographer, professional model, and painter.

J. A. Jance is the New York Times bestselling author of the Ali Reynolds series, the J. P. Beaumont series, the Joanna Brady series, and a number of novels featuring the Walker family. Before becoming an author, she workd as a librarian and teacher on a Native American reservation.

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Tom Weiner, a dialogue director and voice artist best known for his roles in video games and television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Transformers, is the winner of eight Earphones Awards and Audie Award finalist. He is a former member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Stephen R. Thorne, winner of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards for narration, is a professional actor and member of the resident acting company at Providence's esteemed Trinity Repertory Company, where he has played Hamlet, Henry V, and Tom Joad.

Meredith Mitchell is an actress who has performed in such films as Mona Lisa Smile and The Reunion, on stage with Shakespeare & Company and the New Repertory Theatre, and on television on Good Morning America. She received her BA in psychology from Emory University and her MFA in acting from Brandeis University.

Barry Press has been an active professional actor, director, and teacher for over thirty-five years. He has performed off Broadway and at numerous regional theaters from Alaska to Florida. He is founder and artistic director of Living Literature, a Rhode Island-based literacy program.

Angela Brazil is an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator and a professional actor who is proud to be a long-standing member of the Resident Acting Company at Trinity Repertory Company. She also teaches at the Brown/Trinity Conservatory.

Mark Peckham is an actor and director based in Rhode Island. In addition to working with Trinity Rep, Virginia Stage Co., and many Boston-area theaters, he was the voice of Joseph Smith in the award-winning PBS documentary American Prophet with Gregory Peck.

Charlie Thurston is an actor and Earphones Award-winning narrator. He holds an MFA in acting from Brown University / Trinity Rep and has appeared on stages across the country with Trinity Repertory Company, Chautauqua Theater Company, Creede Rep, and at Riverside Theatre and Redmoon Theater, among others. His favorite roles include Edgar in The Completely Fictional-Utterly True-Final Strange Tale of Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen in The Long Christmas Ride Home, Tuzenbach in The Three Sisters, and Tony in You Can't Take It with You.

Rachel Dulude is a costume technician at Trinity Rep. She earned a BA from Plymouth State University in acting. Rachel has performed in productions with the Wilbury Group and at Barker Playhouse in Providence and in the US premiere of Anne Boleyn at the Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She is a member of Providence's Improv Jones.

Amanda Dolan is a professional actor in the MFA program at Brown University. Her credits include Richard III, Macbeth, Falsettos, The Rocky Horror Show, Hair, and The Who's Tommy.