The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told (58 page)

Anne Perry's publishing career began with
The Cater Street Hangman
. Published in 1979, the first book in the series featured the Victorian policeman Thomas Pitt and his well-born wife Charlotte. This is arguably the longest sustained crime series by a living writer.
Buckingham Palace Gardens
, the latest in the series, appeared on the
New York Times
best-seller list in April 2008. In 1990, Anne started a second series of detective novels with
The Face of a Stranger
. Set about thirty-five years earlier, they features the private detective William Monk and volatile nurse Hester Latterly. The most recent of these (fifteenth in the series) is
The Dark Assassin
, which appeared in the
New York Times
best-seller list. Anne won an Edgar award in 2000 with her short story “Heroes.” The main character in the story features in an ambitious five-book series set during the First World War. The last of these was recently published in autumn 2007. None of her books has ever been out of print, and they have received critical acclaim and huge popular success: over twenty million copies of her books are in print worldwide. Her books have appeared on best-seller lists in a number of foreign countries, where she has also had excellent reviews.
The Times
selected her as one of the “100 Masters of Crime.” Currently Anne is working on more titles in the Pitt and Monk series, and her next published novel will be a stand-alone epic set in the exotic and dangerous world of the Byzantine Empire.

Steve Perry has written scores of novels, animated teleplays, short stories, along with a couple of spec movie scripts. A number of his books have appeared on the
New York Times
best-seller list, and he is the co-author, with Michael Reaves, of the blockbuster Star Wars novel
Death Star
.

Melville Davisson Post (1869–1930) was a successful lawyer who turned to writing. He first gained fame with his three books of crime stories about Randolph Mason, a lawyer who used his knowledge to help criminals evade justice. Later, he combined elements of both the mystery and fantasy genres in the tales of Uncle Abner, a highly religious man who battled evil wherever it could be found, but primarily in the Virginia backwoods.

Laura Resnick is the author of dozens of short stories, as well as such fantasy novels as
Disappearing Nightly
,
In Legend Born
,
The Destroyer Goddess
, and
The White Dragon
, which made the “Year's Best” lists of
Publishers Weekly
and
Voya.
You can find her on the Web at
www.LauraResnick.com
.

Mike Resnick is, according to
Locus
, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He has won five Hugos, plus other major awards in the USA, France, Japan, Spain, Croatia, and Poland, and has been nominated in England, Italy, and Australia. He is the author of sixty-one novels, 250 short stories, and two screenplays, and has edited more than forty anthologies. His work has been translated into twenty-six languages.

Michael A. Stackpole is an award-winning novelist, graphic novelist, screenwriter, podcaster, game and computer game designer best known for his
New York Times
best-selling novels
I, Jedi
, and
Rogue Squadron
. “If Vanity Doesn't Kill Me” is the second of seven Trick Malloy stories—most of which are available at his website:
www.Stormwolf.com
. Mike lives in the Phoenix area and enjoys both swing dancing and indoor soccer in his spare time.

Elizabeth A. Vaughan writes fantasy romance, and her most recent novel is
Destiny's Star
, part of the “Star Series” published by Berkley Sensation. Other Wan Sui Ye stories appear in
Furry Fantastic
and
A Girl's Guide to Guns and Monsters.
Currently she is owned by three incredibly spoiled cats and lives in the Northwest Territory, on the outskirts of the Black Swamp, along Mad Anthony's Trail on the banks of the Maumee River. You can learn more about her books at
www.EAVWrites.com
.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance, and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the best-seller lists even in London and have been published in fourteen countries and thirteen different languages. Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction. Her short work has been reprinted in thirteen Year's Best collections. In 2007, she became one of a handful of writers to twice win the Best Mystery Novel award given for the best mystery published in the Northwest (for her Kris Nelscott books). Her novella, “Diving into the Wreck,” has won the prestigious international UPC award, given in Spain to the best science fiction novella in English, French, Spanish or Catalan. That novella also won the Asimov's Readers Choice award. She is the former editor of prestigious
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
. Before that, she and Dean Wesley Smith started and ran Pulphouse Publishing, a science fiction and mystery press in Eugene. She lives and works on the Oregon Coast.