Mysterious California: Four Authors
Author's Biographies
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Nadia Gordon
Nadia Gordon, author of Sharpshooter, is the pen name of San Francisco–based writer Julianne
Balmain. Sharpshooter is the first of three titles in the Sunny McCoskey Napa Valley mystery series,
including Death by the Glass and Murder Alfresco. The Los Angeles Times calls Sunny “a welcome,
energetic heroine. . . . She and her pals are fun to be around." She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area,
where she is currently completing book four in the Napa Valley series.
Laurie R. King
Laurie R. King, author of The Art of Detection, a mystery-within-a-mystery, blends past and
present day San Francisco, in a murder case for Police Homicide Detective Kate Martinelli. King is
the New York Times bestselling author of eight Mary Russell novels including The Beekeeper’s
Apprentice, four contemporary novels featuring Kate Martinelli, and the bestselling novels A Darker
Place, Folly, and Keeping Watch. King's first book, A Grave Talent (1993), received the 1994 Edgar
Award for Best First Novel and a 1995 John Creasey Memorial Award. This was followed by the
1996 Nero Wolfe Award for A Monstrous Regiment of Women, and the 2002 Macavity Award for
Best Novel for Folly. She has also been nominated for an Agatha Award, an Orange Prize,
and two more Edgars. She has a BA degree in comparative religion and an MA in
Old Testament Theology. She lives in northern California.
Nina Revoyr
Nina Revoyr, author of Southland, was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a Polish-American
father. She grew up in Tokyo, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles, and received her MFA in Creative
Writing from Cornell University. Her first novel, The Necessary Hunger (Simon & Schuster, 1997) was
described by Time magazine as “the kind of irresistible read you start on the subway at 6 p.m. on the
way home from work and keep plowing through until you've turned the last page at 3 a.m. in bed.”
Her second novel, Southland, (Akashic Books, 2003) was a BookSense 76 pick, won the Ferro-Grumley
and Lambda Literary awards, was an Edgar Award Finalist, and was named one of the “Best Books
of 2003” by the Los Angeles Times. Booklist gave it a starred review, saying “If Oprah still had her
book club, this novel likely would be at the top of her list. With prose that is beautiful, precise, but
never pretentious…” Ms. Revoyr’s work has been featured in many magazines, newspapers, and radio
shows, including the Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, and NPR's Weekend Edition. Her new novel, The
Age of Dreaming (Akashic Books, 2008), like Southland, is part murder mystery, part historical novel,
and part unrequited love story, and explores the beginnings of the movie industry in Los Angeles and
the interplay of race and celebrity. Ms. Revoyr lives and works in Los Angeles.
Kirk Russell
Kirk Russell, author of Shell Games, introduces his John Marquez series, which focuses on a
Department of Fish & Game Special Operations Unit that investigates ecological crimes.
The third book in the series, Deadgame, was named one of the top ten crime novels of 2005 by the
American Library Association. Booklist calls John Marquez "far and away the most inventive new
detective hero." Russell graduated with a degree in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley in 1978, thinking
maybe he'd go to law school. Instead, he started writing -- stabs at a novel, articles on hang-gliding --
and doing construction. Eventually, he had a construction company with two partners and
150 employees."Learning carpentry, that was great. It changes you to work with your hands for
years," says Russell. "But contracting, that's a tough game." He has continued to work on building
select projects, since he started writing in earnest six years ago. He has two daughters in college, is
married and livesin the Bay Area. He is currently at work on the fourth Marquez novel.