Michael Malone is a Southern author, born in Durham, North Carolina. He is best known for his best-selling works of fiction, which include Handling Sin (1983) and Foolscap (1991) as well as the murder mystery First Lady (2001). He is proud of his Piedmont heritage and sets many of his stories, including First Lady and the other Justin & Cuddy novels, there. In its first week of publication The Killing Club went to #16 on the New York Times bestseller list for Hardback Fiction. It later rose to #11.