Richard Hall was well known to Australian media through his long career in journalism as a feature writer, editorialist and columnist. A former aide to Gough Whitlam, he wrote several books, among them The Secret State, a much quoted investigation into Australia’s spy industry.

John Kerr has written books on the 1999 helicopter hijack–prison break from Silverwater Prison, murder in the family, hit men, outlaw bikers, gangsters’ women, crime bosses, bent cops and drug runners, and is currently working on a dictionary of crime. He revised and updated this book.