Trevanian was the pen name of Dr Rodney William Whitaker. After exploding onto the bestseller lists with two thrillers, THE EIGER SANCTION (1972) and THE LOO SANCTION (1973), Trevanian followed with the bestsellers THE MAIN (1976), SHIBUMI (1979) and THE SUMMER OF KATYA (1983). After a fifteen year absence he reappeared as an author with INCIDENT AT TWENTY-MILE (1998), HOTNIGHT IN THE CITY (2000) and THE CRAZY LADIES OF PEARL STREET (2005). He died in 2005.

Carrie Adams is the author of The Godmother and The Stepmother. She lives in London with her family.

As an actor, Guy Adams has been conning people for years, and, as a writer, he has assumed the literary identity of DCI Gene Hunt, of the best-selling Rules of Modern Policing: 1973 Edition. Guy also has considerable expertise in the art of the con - its history, tools and techniques - and possesses a number of close-up magic skills.

Swan Adamson is a writer and art critic who lives in Portland, Oregon and New York City, USA.

Kate Adie became the BBC's chief news correspondent in 1989, and has reported from war zones around the world. She has won numerous awards including three Royal Television Society awards, the Bafta Richard Dimbleby Award, and the Broadcasting Press Guild's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Broadcasting. She was awarded an OBE in 1993.Kate Adie presents From Our Own Correspondent on BBC Radio 4 and is the author of four bestselling books.

Arthur Agatston is a Medical Director at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Florida. He has an oustanding international reputation in cardiology, and regularly contributes to many leading American journals. He lives in Miami with his wife and two children.

Saira is a successful, independent business woman, bringing up her daughter alone. Her family still know nothing of what she has been through and names have been changed to protect Saira and her daughter from their anger. Should they find out how she has dishonoured them - they might very well decide to kill her.

Jami Alden is the Holt Medallion-nominated author for sexy romantic suspense. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her socially well-adjusted alpha male husband, her sons, and a German Shepherd who patiently listens to dialogue and helps her work out plot points.You can learn more at www.JamiAlden.com or follow Jami on Twitter @jamialden and on at Facebook.com/jamialden

Thalassa M Ali was born in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, the daughter of two archaeologists: one English and one American. She received her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Radcliffe College in 1962. A year later she married a young man from Lahore, Pakistan, and moved to that country, where she remained for twelve years, dividing her time between Karachi and Lahore. Widowed suddenly at the age of thirty-one, she spent her last three years in Pakistan carrying on her deceased husband's businesses.After returning to Boston with her two children in 1975, she became a stockbroker. While her children were growing, she worked at various investment houses, managing money for individual clients. In 1993, with her children launched, she turned to writing. Ali's love for Pakistan has remained strong over the past twenty-six years. She converted to Islam in 1984 on one of her many visits there. She is a member of Tauhidia, a Sufi brotherhood, whose headquarters are in Karachi. While still living in Pakistan, she began collecting books on nineteenth-century India with the intention of writing about that time and place. This is her first novel.

James Allen is familiar to millions in the UK and around the English-speaking world as the lead commentator for ITVs Formula One coverage. He has worked in the sport as a journalist and broadcaster since 1990. James replaced Murray Walker as the voice of motorsport in 2001 and, through his extensive work for the Financial Times, has established himself as one of the most authoritative writers in Formula One. In 1995 he co-wrote Nigel Mansells bestselling autobiography THE PEOPLE`S CHAMPION.

Anita Amirrezvani was born in Iran but has lived in the USA since she was a young child. She has visited Iran many times and has been steeped in tales of Iranian life and history from an early age. THE BLOOD OF FLOWERS is her first novel.

Anjum Anand was born in London and is a European Business Administration graduate. Her parents emigrated from New Delhi before she was born. She has worked in New York's Cafe Spice and the Tommy Tang catering company in Los Angeles and has studied in Geneva, Paris and Madrid. Her recent BBC TV series Indian Food Made Easy weas hugely poular and showcased her diverse experience and glamorous vitality.

Before sacrificing his soul to dark forces in the Square Mile, Cityboy was a genuine left-wing hippy and political activist, complete with ponytail and hoop earrings. His dream of becoming a global traveller was cruelly dashed when his brother got him an interview at a French bank in the City, which would set him on the rocky road to destruction and despair.

Maria Anderson has been a NHS midwife for over 20 years. She has worked across the UK and is now based in Inverness with her husband and two children.

Douglas Andrew is currently the owner and president of Paramount Financial services, Inc., a comprehensive personal and business financial planning firm with several distinctions

Lyn Andrews is one of the UK's most popular authors, and her books have appeared many times on the Sunday Times bestseller lists. She has written thirty-one enormously successful novels, which are all available from Headline. Lyn now lives on the Isle of Man, but frequently visits Merseyside to see her three children and four grandchildren.

When she is not fleeing from all things feline, Elia likes to ponder on things of consequence. She currently lives in a giant litter box in the U.S.

Sally Anne Morris has taught psychology for over a decade, but before that she supported herself through university by working as a civil servant, van driver, crossing warden, farm hand and waiting tables in a casino. She now enjoys writing, lying on the sofa and watching re-runs of Quincy.

Manette Ansay is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels: MIDNIGHT CHAMPAGNE, a National Book Critics Circle Award winner, RIVER ANGEL, SISTER and VINEGAR HILL, an Oprah Winfrey Bookclub Selection, a short-story collection, READ THIS AND TELL ME WHAT IT SAYS, and a memoir, LIMBO, of her battle with illness to begin her writing career.

For many years Richard worked in the BBC Radio Newsroom, at one point editing the main bulletins in Radio Four's Today. During his 30 years at the BBC, he wrote and presented a large range of programmes for Radios Two and Three; and for Radio Five Live, he devised the world's first obituaries programme, Brief Lives, producing over 300 editions. His well-regarded biography of music hall legend, Marie Lloyd, appeared in 1990. In 2005 he published the definitive British Music Hall: An Illustrated History, followed in 2011 by the companion volume, Old-Time Variety: An Illustrated History. He contributes regularly to The Stage and the British Musical Hall Society's magazine, The Call Boy, and he co-edits (with Max Tyler) the invaluable quarterly journal, Music Hall Studies.