EZRA BARANY

Ezra writes irreverent thrillers that get you to read on the edge of your seat, fall off laughing, and cough up your spleen. The first two books in The Torah Codes series were award-winning international bestsellers. Somehow, the display copies of his keep getting stolen from the display table (no joke!), A high school physics teacher, Ezra lives in Oakland with his beloved wife and two cats, Rocket and Cinnamon, and is working on the next mystery. thetorahcodes.com

BRETT BATTLES

Brett is a USA Today–bestselling, Shamus-nominated, and Barry Award–winning author of over thirty-five novels, including the Jonathan Quinn series, the Project Eden series, and the time-bending Rewinder series. He’s also the coauthor, with Robert Gregory Browne, of the Alexandra Poe series. While he lives and writes in Southern California, Brett has traveled the world, and his experiences find their way into his current and future novels. brettbattles.com

Eric Beetner

Eric has been called “The 21st Century’s answer to Jim Thompson” (LitReactor). He is an International Thriller Award nominee, a Shamus nominee, and a three-time Anthony Award nominee. Eric has written 21 novels including All the Way Down, Rumrunners, and The Devil Doesn’t Want Me. His award-winning short stories appear in over three dozen anthologies. He co-hosts the podcast Writer Types and the popular Noir at the Bar reading series in Los Angeles. ericbeetner.com

mike befeler

Mike is the author of Paradise Court, Unstuff Your Stuff, Death of a Scam Artist, and the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit mystery series, twice finalist for The Lefty Award for best humorous mystery. After a thirty-nine-year business career, he retired into writing. He grew up in Hawaii, lived in Boulder, Colorado, and currently resides in Lakewood, California, with his wife Wendy. When not writing, Mike can be seen taking his grandson to the park. mikebefeler.com

ERIC BERNT

Eric was raised in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, and Madison, Wisconsin. After graduating from Northwestern University, he moved to Hollywood and wrote seven feature films including Virtuosity (starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe) and Surviving the Game (starring Rutger Hauer and Gary Busey). He has also written for television (Z Nation) and is the author of The Speed of Sound and The Sound of Echoes. He currently lives in Agoura Hills, California, with his wife and three children. ericbernt.com

SCOTT BRICK — HEADLINER

Scott is an actor, writer, and award-winning audiobook narrator who knows how to tell a story—in a way that keeps top publishers, bestselling, and award-winning authors, critics, and the public at large begging for more. Hailed by Audible in 2012 as their most prolific narrator, Brick has narrated over 800 audiobooks, including titles such as: In Cold Blood, Atlas Shrugged, and The Bourne Trilogy, and he is a popular choice with high-profile authors including Nelson DeMille, Janet Evanovich, Clive Cussler, David Baldacci and Gregg Hurwitz, just to name a few.

JACK CARR

Jack is a former Navy SEAL who led special operations teams as a Team Leader, Platoon Commander, Troop Commander, Task Unit Commander, Operations Officer, and Executive Officer. He's done everything from being an enlisted SEAL sniper specializing in communications and intelligence, to a junior officer leading assault and sniper teams in Iraq and Afghanistan, to a platoon commander practicing counterinsurgency in the southern Philippines, to commanding a Special Operations Task Unit in Southern Iraq. officialjackcarr.com

SEAN CARSWELL

Sean is the author of several books, including Drinks for the Little Guy, Train Wreck Girl, Madhouse Fog, The Metaphysical Ukulele, and Occupy Pynchon. He co-founded the independent book publisher Gorsky Press and the music magazine Razorcake. His writing has appeared in Thrasher, Zisk, The Southeastern Review, The Rattling Wall, and The Journal of American Culture. A resident of Ventura, he is an associate professor of writing and literature at California State University, Channel Islands. seancarswell.org

Matt coyle

Matt is the author of the Rick Cahill mysteries. He knew he wanted to be a crime writer at age twelve when his father gave him Raymond Chandler’s The Simple Art of Murder. His books have won the Anthony, Ben Franklin Silver, Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Silver, and San Diego Book Award, and have been nominated for the Macavity, Shamus, and Lefty Awards. Matt lives in San Diego with his yellow Lab, Angus. mattcoylebooks.com

J.C. DE LADURANTEY

J.C. combines street savvy and police department intrigue based upon true stories from a varied career with 40 years of law enforcement experience. He currently teaches at various colleges and is the founder of The Vollmer Institute, dedicated to education in forensic science and polygraph training. His debut novel, Coward, Crooks, and Warriors, received five-star ratings, and his latest, Twenty-Three Minutes, is just out. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Sandra.

dave edlund

Dave is a USA Today–bestselling author and a member of the International Thriller Writers. His action-political books are highly praised by some of the best voices in thriller fiction, including James Rollins who said, "I would follow Peter Savage into any firefight." When Dave isn’t cooking up his latest spine-tingling adventure, he is working as a leading expert in hydrogen energy. Dave lives in Bend, Oregon, with his wife and four dogs. petersavagenovels.com

DAVID FREED

Dave is a pilot, professor, screenwriter, former CIA sub-contractor, and contributing editor at Air & Space Smithsonian magazine. He reported from the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm for The Los Angeles Times and shared in a Pulitzer for coverage of the Rodney King riots. His six-volume, critically acclaimed murder-mystery series features Cordell Logan, a sardonic ex-fighter pilot turned government assassin turned civilian flight instructor from Rancho Bonita, California, which resembles Santa Barbara where Dave resides with his wife and Aussie dog.  dave-freed.com

dave freedland

Dave is a 34-year decorated law enforcement professional having served with the Irvine Police Department, where he served as a SWAT team leader and commander for over 25 years. He retired at the rank of Deputy Chief and currently holds a 6th-degree black belt in Japanese Shotokan karate. His first novel, Lincoln 9, was Oak Tree Press’s bestselling book on Amazon. His second book, The Pepper Tree, was published this year. davefreedland.com

ED FULLER

Ed is a hospitality industry leader, educator, and author of the international Top 20 bestselling business book, You Can’t Lead with Your Feet on the Desk. He’s president of Laguna Strategic Advisors, a global consortium that provides business consulting services to corporations and governments. His 40-year career with Marriott was capped by his role as president and managing director of Marriott International for 22 years. His latest thriller, Red Hotel, is co-written with Gary Grossman. edwinfuller.com

howard michael gould

Howard began his career on Madison Avenue, winning three Clios and other awards, before moving to Los Angeles. There he has worked as a screenwriter and playwright, as well as executive producer and head writer of a number of network television series, including Cybill and The Jeff Foxworthy Show. He is the author of two novels, Last Looks and Below the Line, both featuring the eco-maniacal private detective Charlie Waldo. howardmichaelgould.com

neal griffin

Neal is a veteran cop and graduate of the FBI National Academy. His third and latest novel, By His Own Hand, was published in May 2018, of which Tami Hoag wrote, “With crackling dialogue, dead-on police procedures, and a smart, feisty heroine in Detective Tia Suarez, Neal Griffin delivers.” His fourth book, The Burden of Truth, will be published in Spring of 2020 and will be Neal's first novel set in Southern California. nealgriffin.com

GARY GROSSMAN

Gary is a multiple Emmy Award–winning television producer and author of the Executive Force series of bestselling international political thrillers. Additionally, he has written two highly regarded nonfiction books on television history. Red Hotel, his latest book, is co-written with Ed Fuller and presents terrorism at a well-known hotel in Japan and how the company deals with it. Gary is a member of the International Thriller Writers Association and the Military Writers Society of America. garygrossman.com

david hagerty

David has authored four books in the Duncan Cochrane political mystery series, each inspired by a crime during his childhood in Chicago. The latest, They Tell Me You Are Cunning, released in 2019, derives from the false convictions of ten men on Illinois’ death row. Like all his books, David is inspired by efforts to right criminal injustice. He has also published more than twenty short stories, including five from a collection about the Navajo reservation. davidhagerty.net

GLEN ERIK HAMILTON

Glen is the author of Past Crimes, which won the Anthony, Macavity, and Strand Magazine Critics’ Awards and was nominated for the Edgar, Barry, and Nero awards. His follow-up novels have garnered rave reviews, and the fourth in the Van Shaw series, Mercy River, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. A native of Seattle, Glen grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He is the current President of the Southern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America. glenerikhamilton.com

paddy hirsch

Paddy is a journalist, broadcaster, and former British Royal Marines officer. He currently works for the NPR podcast The Indicator from Planet Money. The Devil’s Half Mile, a historical thriller set on Wall Street in 1799, is his first novel. The sequel, Hudson’s Kill, comes out in September 2019. He is also the author of Man vs Markets, Economics Explained, Plain and Simple, a book that uses humor to explain how Wall Street works. paddyhirsch.com

GREGG HURWITZ — HEadliner

Gregg is the New York Times #1 internationally bestselling author of twenty thrillers including the Orphan X series, his newest of which, Out of the Dark, was released in January 2019. His books have been shortlisted twice for the novel of the year by the International Thriller Writers, honored as Book Sense Picks, nominated for the Galaxy National Book award, won numerous literary awards, and published in thirty languages. Additionally, he’s written screenplays and television scripts for many of the major studios and networks.

alan jacobsOn

Alan is the award-winning, USA Today–bestselling author of a dozen books featuring FBI profiler Karen Vail and the OPSIG Team Black covert ops group. His 20+ years of research and training with the FBI, DEA, ATF, SWAT, Scotland Yard, and the US military infuse his books with verisimilitude. His novels have been optioned by Hollywood, and both series have been raved about by federal agents, police captains, FBI profilers, and Navy SEALs. alanjacobson.com

S.W. LAUDEN

S.W. is the Anthony Award–nominated author of the Tommy & Shayna novella, Crosswise, and the sequel, Crossed Bones. His Greg Salem punk rock P.I. series includes Bad Citizen Corporation, Grizzly Season, and Hang Time. His latest book is the music-themed crime novelette, That'll Be the Day. He is also the co-host of the Writer Types crime, mystery, and thriller podcast, and the drummer for an LA-based rock band called The Brothers Steve. swlauden.com 

leslie s. klinger

Leslie is the New York Times–bestselling editor of the Edgar-winning New Annotated Sherlock Holmes and the Edgar-nominated Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s, annotated by Klinger. He has also edited two anthologies of classic mysteries and, with Laurie R. King, four anthologies of stories inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon. He is former president of the SoCal chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and lives in Malibu, California. lesliesklinger.com

PAUL D. MARKS

Paul is the author of the Shamus Award–winning mystery-thriller White Heat, which Publishers Weekly calls a “taut crime yarn.” Betty Webb of Mystery Scene Magazine calls its sequel, Broken Windows, “Extraordinary.” His short story “Ghosts of Bunker Hill” was voted #1 in the 2016 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Poll. “Windward” was selected for the Best American Mystery Stories of 2018 and won the 2018 Macavity Award for Best Short Story. pauldmarks.com

JO PERRY — HEADLINER

Jo is the author of Dead Is Better, Dead Is Best, Dead Is Good, and Dead Is Beautiful, dark comic mysteries published by Fahrenheit Press. Jo holds a PhD in English, has taught college literature and writing, has produced and written episodic television, and has published articles, book reviews, and poetry. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, novelist Thomas Perry and two rescue dogs. 

THOMAS PERRY — HEADLINER

Thomas is the author of 25 novels including the Jane Whitefield series, Death Benefits, and Pursuit, the first recipient of the Gumshoe Award for best novel. He won the Edgar for The Butcher’s Boy, and Metzger’s Dog was a New York Times Notable Book as well as voted one of NPR’s 100 Killer Thrillers -- Best Thrillers Ever. In addition, the Independent Mystery Booksellers’ Association included Vanishing Act in its “100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century,” and Nightlife was a New York Times bestseller. 

RALPH PEZZULLO

Ralph is a New York Times–bestselling author, award-winning playwright, and screenwriter. His books have been published in over twenty languages and include Jawbreaker, Inside SEAL Team Six, The Walk-In, Plunging into Haiti (winner of the Douglas Dillon Prize for American Diplomacy), Zero Footprint, Left of Boom, Ghost, and the SEAL Team Six thrillers Hunt the Wolf, Hunt the Scorpion, Hunt the Falcon, Hunt the Jackal, Hunt the Dragon, and Hunt the Viper. ralphpezzullo.com

JAMES PRESTON

James is the author of the multi-award-winning Surf City Mysteries and two-time recipient of the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference Award for Fiction. He is currently working on the sixth, Remains to Be Seen. His most recent other works are Crashpad and Buzzkill, two historical novellas set in the 1960s at California State University, Long Beach. Kirkus Reviews called Buzzkill “A historical thriller enriched by characters who sparkle and refuse to be forgotten.” jamesrpreston.com

david putnam

David is the author of the Bruno Johnson series, of which the most recent is The Innocents. He comes from a family of law enforcement and always wanted to be a cop. During his career, he did it all: worked in narcotics, served on FBI-sponsored violent crimes teams, and was cross-sworn as a US Marshall, pursuing murder suspects and bank robbers in Arizona, Nevada, and California. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Mary. DavidPutnamBooks.com

kwei quartey

Kwei is a Ghanaian-American physician and author of the Inspector Darko Dawson series and the new Emma Djan, PI, series, both set in Ghana. His first novel, Wife of the Gods, won a National Book Award and was also a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Library Journal calls his latest, By His Grace, “vividly depicted.” Kwei is an avid horse rider who lives in Pasadena but visits Ghana frequently to research material for his novels. kweiquartey.com

robert rotstein

Robert is a lawyer and author of the legal drama We, The Jury (Blackstone 2018), a USA Today bestseller and a Suspense Magazine 2018 Book of the Year. With James Patterson, he wrote “The Family Lawyer,” the title story of the New York Times bestselling collection. His other novels include Corrupt Practices (2013, Booklist starred review); Reckless Disregard (2015, Kirkus and Booklist starred reviews), and The Bomb Maker’s Son (2015). He lives in Los Angeles. robertrotstein.com

Stephen jay schwartz

Stephen is the L.A. Times–bestselling author of the Hayden Glass mysteries, Beat and Boulevard, which was recently made into a short film. He has been a judge for the Thriller Awards, the Edgars, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery-Thriller. His book, Hollywood Versus the Author, is a compilation of essays by authors who sold their rights to Hollywood. He lives in Southern California and teaches film studies at Emerson College. stephenjayschwartz.com.

danny smith

Danny is author of the Dickie Floyd detective series, including A Bunch of Good Men and Door to a Dark Room. He spent 21 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the last seven as a homicide detective. He now lives in Idaho where he works as a private investigator and consultant surrounded by family and four-legged friends. Danny also writes trade articles and publishes a weekly blog called The Murder Memo. dickiefloydnovels.com

daniel stallings

Daniel is the author of the Li Johnson murder mysteries (Pace Press) in which he brings the style of the classic murder mystery to digital-age audiences in a modern voice. He also owns and operates Master Mystery Productions, a company specializing in creating interactive mystery entertainment. Daniel lives in the barren wilds of California’s Mojave Desert and currently serves as president of the East Sierra Branch of the California Writers Club. danielstallings.com

phoef sutton

Phoef is a New York Times–bestselling novelist, television writer, and playwright whose work has won two Emmys, a Peabody, a Writers Guild Award, a GLAAD Award, and a Television Academy Honors Award. His first two Crush novels were Kirkus Best Mysteries of the Year. He is also the co-author, with Janet Evanovich, of two New York Times bestsellers, Curious Minds and Wicked Charms. Sutton lives with his wife and daughters in South Pasadena, California. phoefsutton.com