Scott Phillips is the author of three of the most highly acclaimed crime novels of recent years. His debut novel, The Ice Harvest, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and won the California Book Award, a Silver Medal for Best First Fiction, and was a finalist for the Edgar Awards, the Hammett Prize and the Anthony Award. Its followup The Walkaway continued his success, with The New York Times calling it "wicked fun." His third novel, Cottonwood, has just been published by Ballantine.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, where much of his first two books are set, Scott lived for many years in Paris, and then in Southern California, where he worked on screenplays. Those who frequent Showtime in the middle of the night may see his name on Crosscut (1996). He now lives in St. Louis with his wife and daughter.

See the Press/Reviews section for interviews in which Scott talks extensively about the real-life experiences in Wichita that inspired the uniquely sordid-comic atmosphere of his first two books.