Crime and Thriller Writing: A Writers' & Artists' Companion is an essential guide to writing in these exciting genres.

PART 1 explores the nature and history of the genre and helpsyou get started with ideas, planning and research.

PART 2 includes tips by bestselling crime writers: Mark Billingham, S.J. Bolton, Alafair Burke, Lee Child, N. J. Cooper, Meg Gardiner, Tess Gerritsen, Sophie Hannah, Jim Kelly, Laura Lippman, Gayle Lynds, Alex McBride, Val McDermid, Dreda Say Mitchell, Sara Paretsky, Jill Paton Walsh, George Pelecanos, Ian Rankin, Peter Robinson, S. J. Rozan, Guy Saville, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Dana Stabenow, Andrew Taylor, Charles Todd and Laura Wilson. PART 3 contains practical advice--from shaping plots and exploring your characters to the meaning of writer's block, the power of the rewrite, and how to find an agent when your novel is complete.

Michelle Spring has published six crime novels including Every Breath You Take (short-listed as Best First Novel for both an Anthony and an Arthur Ellis Award), Nights in White Satin, In the Midnight Hour (winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel) and The Night Lawyer. She mentors novelists, and teaches both creative writing and academic writing. She is currently Royal Literary Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Laurie R. King has twenty-three novels in print, most of them crime novels, that include the wildly popular Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series (The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Garment of Shadows). Her novels have won the Edgar, Creasey, Wolfe, Lambda, and Macavity awards, and appear regularly on the New York Times bestseller list.