Gayle Lynds

New York Times bestseller Gayle Lynds is the award-winning author of nine spy novels and has been called the Queen of Espionage. Her newest, THE BOOK OF SPIES (2011) launches her first franchise series.

Lynds began her writing career as a reporter for The Arizona Republic, where her investigative reporting led to changes in state legislation. Later she was an editor with rare Top Secret security clearance at a government think tank, an experience that also launched her fiction writing career with a collection of literary short stories and several male pulp novels in the Nick Carter and Mack Bolan series.

Lynds collaborated with Robert Ludlum to write three of the COVERT-ONE series (THE HADES FACTOR, THE PARIS OPTION, and THE ALTMAN CODE). Her first Gayle Lynds novel MASQUERADE, was a New York Times bestseller and a People magazine “Page-Turner of the Week”. Award-winning novels followed, including THE LAST SPYMASTER THE COIL (Best Contemporary Novel from Affaire de Coeur), MOSAIC (Thriller of the Year at Romantic Times), and MESMERIZED (a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist). (Best Novel from both the American Authors Association and the Military Writers Society of America),

Lynds’ work was included in the recent Publishers Weekly compilation of the best espionage fiction ever published, along with works by John le Carre, Robert Ludlum, Frederick Forsyth, Ken Follette and Graham Greene. Lee Child writes she’s “today’s finest espionage writer,” while BookPage claims “Lynds has joined the deified ranks of spy thriller authors like Robert Ludlum and John le Carre”, and the London Observer notes simply that Lynd’s “a kick-ass thriller writer.”

A member of the Association for Intelligence Officers, Lynds cofounded International Thriller Writers with David Morrell in 2004.

James O. Born

James O. Born is the author of five police thrillers from Putnam.  ESCAPE CLAUSE, was the winner of the inaugural Florida Book award for best novel in popular fiction.  His first series featured state cop Bill Tasker.  His second series features ATF agent Alex Duarte.  In 2009 the first of several science fiction novels, THE HUMAN DISGUISE, was  released under the pseudonym James O’Neal.  In 2010, THE DOUBLE HUMAN was picked as one of Library Journal’s Best Books of the Year.  Born is a career law enforcement officer who has worked in all areas of investigation.

Don Bruns

Don Bruns is a novelist, painter, musician/singer/songwriter, cook and traveler who has no idea what he wants to do when he grows up. Bruns's 9th novel is 'Don't Sweat The Small Stuff'. The New York Journal Of Books says..."Don't Sweat The Small Stuff is one of the funniest books of the year, no sweat."

Tim Dorsey

Tim Dorsey was born in Indiana, moved to Florida at the age of 1, and grew up in Riviera Beach in Palm Beach County. He graduated from Auburn University in 1983 with a B.S. in Transportation. While at Auburn, he was editor of the student newspaper, The Plainsman. From 1983 to 1987, he was a police and courts reporter for The Alabama Journal, the now-defunct evening newspaper in Montgomery. He joined The Tampa Tribune in 1987 as a general assignment reporter. He also worked as a political reporter in the Tribune's Tallahassee bureau and a copy desk editor. From 1994 to 1999, he was the Tribune's night metro editor and night news coordinator. He left the paper in August 1999 and has since had twelve novels published in several languages: Florida Roadkill, Hammerhead Ranch Motel, Orange Crush, Triggerfish Twist, The Stingray Shuffle, Cadillac Beach, Torpedo Juice, The Big Bamboo, Hurricane Punch, Atomic Lobster, Nuclear Jellyfish and Gator A-Go-Go. He lives in Tampa with his family.

What the critics have said:

"Some of the most wacky villains and situations since Hiaasen stuck a plastic alligator down a stranger's throat and called it Tourist Season."
- Chicago Tribune

"Vulgar, violent and gaudier than sunsets on the Keys, Dorsey's roadshow is some fun."
- New York Times

H. Terrell Griffin

Award winning author H. Terrell Griffin is a former soldier and board certified trial lawyer who practiced for many years in Orlando. His Matt Royal series has garnered critical and commercial success, and is often compared to John D. MacDonald’s Travis McGee tales. The fifth book in the series, Bitter Legacy, was released in December 2010, to nationwide acclaim. Collateral Damage, scheduled for release on December 5, 2011, will find Matt and his buddies ensnared in a complex mystery that will intrigue the reader to the very last page. Terry and his wife Jean reside in Longboat Key and Maitland, Florida.

David Hagberg

Former Air Force cryptographer David Hagberg is a bestselling author of international thrillers and suspense novels, who has a knack for creating fiction that becomes fact. In THE WHITE HOUSE he predicted North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. In JOSHUA’S HAMMER he foresaw the 9/11 attack on the United States by bin Laden and his al-Quaeda, in DESERT FIRE Saddam Hussein’s nuclear ambitions, and in HIGH FLIGHT the downing of airliners as a method of terrorism on a massive scale.

Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, Hagberg joined the Air Force, where he was trained as a cryptographer and stationed in Greenland above the Arctic Circle and in Germany where he helped construct the (then) world’s largest crypto center on the planet. He subsequently attended the University of Maryland, Overseas Division and the University of Wisconsin studying physics, mathematics and philosophy. He cut his writing teeth at the Duluth Herald & News Tribune, and ultimately served as news desk editor for the Associated Press.

Hagberg’s first novel TWISTER was published in 1975 by Dell, and since that time he has published more than 70 novels of suspense in a career that includes a nomination for The American Book Award, three nominations for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award and three Mystery Scene best American Mystery awards.

His papers are archived at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

David and his wife Laurie, who is a professional fundraiser, make their home in Sarasota, Florida from where, whenever they have spare time, sail the West Coast of the State and the Keys.

Chris Kuzneski

Chris Kuzneski grew up in Indiana, PA where, as an imaginative 10-year old, he wrote his first published novel. The book, The Monster Cookbook, was a work of fiction that detailed the culinary and nutritional needs of a dozen creatures created by Kuzneski. The school’s librarian was so impressed that she had it hardbound and placed in the school’s library, and a writer was born.

Subsequent achievements and accolades included being voted Class Clown of the senior class at Indiana High School, and a fledging career in football that started with the offensive line of a CENPAC championship team, and ended with a freak foot injury at the University of Pittsburgh. Sidelined by the injury, Kuzneski returned to his first muse, writing for The Pitt News, the Indiana Gazette, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, while earning a B.A. in writing and an M.A. in teaching. He taught English and coached football from 1992 to 1998, before taking a leap of faith and a leave from teaching, to write his first novel, The Plantation.

Kuzneski’s freshman effort was praised by thrillmeisters James Patterson, Nelson DeMille, Lee Child, and James Rollins. His next thriller, Sign of the Cross (2006), became an international bestseller, translated into more than fifteen languages. Sword of God climbed even higher on the charts, hitting the New York Times and London Times bestseller lists; followed by the critically- and commercially-acclaimed The Lost Throne. Kuzneski’s fifth book, The Prophecy (2010) reached #4 on the UK charts. His latest book, The Secret Crown, is currently available in the UK, and will have its Americas release in December 2011.

Kuzneski lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida, where he is currently working on his next novel, which will be the seventh book in the Payne & Jones series.

Ward Larsen

Ward Larsen's first book, The Perfect Assassin, won numerous awards, including the Florida Book Award Silver Medal, and is currently undergoing screenplay adaptation for a major motion picture. His work has been nominated for both the Edgar and Macavity Awards. A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Larsen flew over twenty missions in Operation Desert Storm. He has also served as a Federal Law Enforcement officer, and is a trained aircraft accident investigator.

His third book, Fly By Wire, was released in September 2010.

P.J. Parrish (Kristy Montee)

P.J. Parrish is the New York Times bestselling author of ten Louis Kincaid and Joe Frye thrillers. The author is actually two sisters, Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols. Their books have appeared on both the New York Times and USA Today best seller lists. The series has garnered 11 major crime-fiction nominations, including the Edgar. Parrish has won two Shamus awards, one Anthony and one International Thriller competition. Their books have been published throughout Europe and Asia. Parrish’s short stories have also appeared in many anthologies, including two published by Mystery Writers of America, edited by Harlan Coben and the late Stuart Kaminsky. Their stories have also appeared in Akashic Books acclaimed Detroit Noir, and in Ellery Queen Magazine. Most recently, they contributed an essay to a special edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s works edited by Michael Connelly, and also collaborated on the International Thriller Writers serial novels along with Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Lisa Scottoline and nine others. Their next book, A KILLING SONG, is a stand-alone thriller set in Miami and Paris. It will be published in July 2011.

Sharon Potts

Sharon Potts worked as a CPA and business executive before turning to a career of murder and becoming a crime fiction writer. Potts's Miami-based thrillers are about ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Her debut, In Their Blood, won the 2010 Benjamin Franklin award for best Mystery/Suspense novel and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Her latest thriller, Someone's Watching was called "shiver rich" by Publishers Weekly, and “stunningly well-handled” by Booklist.

Sharon is vice president of the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America and a former co-chair of the SleuthFest writers conference. She lives in Miami.

James Swain

James Swain is the national best-selling author of fourteen mystery novels, and has been published in the United States, France, Japan, Russia, Germany and Bulgaria. His books have been chosen as Mysteries of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, and have received three Barry Award nominations, a Florida Book Award for Fiction, and France’s prestigious Prix Calibre .38 for Best American Crime Fiction.

In October 2010, Swain released four of his original novels as e-books, all of which now sit on Amazon’s bestseller eBook list. His Tony Valentine series has been purchased for motion picture adaptation, and in the fall of 2011, Swain launches a new thriller series with Tor Books called Dark Magic.

Elaine Viets

Elaine Viets writes two national bestselling mystery series. Her critically acclaimed Dead-End Job series is a satiric look at a serious subject – the minimum-wage world. Her character, Helen Hawthorne, works a different low-paying job each book, from telemarketer to hotel maid. Publishers Weekly called her hardcover debut “wry social commentary.” The New York Times’ Marilyn Stasio praised “Viets’s snappy critique of South Florida” in her review of “Half-Price Homicide,” Elaine’s ninth Dead-End Job mystery.

“Pumped for Murder,” Elaine’s tenth Dead-End Job book, will be published this May.

Elaine’s second series features St. Louis mystery shopper Josie Marcus in her sixth adventure, “An Uplifting Murder.” The debut, “Dying in Style,” tied with Stephen King on the Independent Mystery Booksellers bestseller list. Elaine won the Agatha, Anthony and Lefty Awards.