Martyn Waites was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. He trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama and worked as an actor for many years before becoming a writer. His novels include the critically acclaimed Joe Donovan series, set in the north-east of England, and The White Room, which was a Guardian book of the year. In 2013 he was chosen to write Angel of Death, the official sequel to Susan Hill’s Woman in Black, and in 2014 won the Grand Prix du Roman Noir for Born Under Punches. He has been nominated for every major British crime fiction award and has also enjoyed international commercial success with eight novels written under the name Tania Carver.