After an MA in English, Simon Beckett spent several years as a property repairer before a stint teaching in Spain. Back in the UK, he played percussion in several bands. He has been a freelance journalist since 1992, writing for The Times, The Independent on Sunday Review, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer and other major British publications. Some of his more memorable assignments have included going on police drugs raids, touring brothels with a vice unit, trying to learn how to win a gun fight in Nevada and visiting The Body Farm in Tennessee. Simon Beckett is married and lives in Sheffield.