After an MA in English, Simon Beckett spent several years as a property repairer before teaching in Spain. Back in the UK, he played percussion in several bands. He has been a freelance journalist since 1992, writing for national British newspapers and magazines. Some of his more memorable assignments have included going on police drugs raids, touring brothels with a vice unit and trying to learn how to win a gun fight in Nevada. It was a visit to the Body Farm in Tennessee that was the inspiration behind the internationally bestselling David Hunter crime thrillers, which have now been translated into 27 languages.

The third David Hunter novel, Whispers of the Dead, is published as a Bantam hardback in January 2009. Simon's novels have now sold 4 million copies worldwide, and he was the UK's top selling author in Europe for 2009.

As well as the David Hunter series, he is the author of four psychological thrillers, Fine Lines, Animals, Where There's Smoke and Owning Jacob. He is married and lives in Sheffield, England.

Click here to read the Q&A with Simon Beckett.

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