(1950– ) has written more than a dozen novels about Lincoln Rhyme, the brilliant quadriplegic detective who made his debut in The Bone Collector (1997), which was filmed and released by Universal in 1999 and starred Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Other Rhyme novels are The Coffin Dancer (1998), The Empty Chair (2000), and, most recently, The Cutting Edge (2018).
He has also written more than twenty stand-alone and other series novels, most notably those featuring Kathryn Dance, who made her debut in The Cold Moon (2006), a Lincoln Rhyme novel in which she makes a brief appearance, followed by her first star turn in The Sleeping Doll (2007). Dance, an agent in the California Bureau of Investigation, is brilliant in the art of interrogation and is a highly accomplished reader of body language.
Deaver was born outside Chicago and received his journalism degree from the University of Missouri, becoming a newspaperman, after which he received his law degree from Fordham University, practicing for several years. A poet, he wrote his own songs and performed them across the country.
His works have been translated into twenty-five languages and are perennial bestsellers in America and elsewhere. Among his many honors are seven nominations for Edgar Awards (twice for best paperback original, five times for best short story), three Ellery Queen Readers Awards for best short story of the year, and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award from the (British) Crime Writers’ Association for Garden of Beasts (2004).
His non-series novel A Maiden’s Grave (1995) was adapted for an HBO movie titled Dead Silence (1997) and starred James Garner and Marlee Matlin. His suspense novel The Devil’s Teardrop (1999) was a 2010 made-for-television movie of the same name.
“Fast” was originally published in Trouble in Mind (New York, Grand Central, 2014).