Michael Connelly
2020 Author
Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of thirty-five novels and one work of non-fiction. His characters include LAPD detective Harry Bosch, defense attorney Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer), and crime reporter Jack McEvoy. He is the executive producer of Bosch, an Amazon Studios original based on his character Harry Bosch. Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. After graduating, he worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat, and then landed a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. Connelly’s crime fiction career was honored with the Diamond Dagger from the CWA in 2018. He is the creator and host of the podcast Murder Book. He is also the executive producer of the documentary films, Sound Of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story and Tales of the American.
Derek Haas
2020 Author
Derek Haas is a renowned writer and producer whose first foray into television was the creation of Chicago Fire with Michael Brandt. He currently serves as the show-runner on the ninth season of Chicago Fire. With Brandt, he co-wrote the feature films 3:10 to Yuma, Wanted, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and The Double. He is the author of The Silver Bear, Columbus, and Dark Men (forming the Assassin Trilogy), a book series that The New York Times Book Review called “devastatingly cool.” His fourth novel, The Right Hand, launched a new character and earned a prestigious starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. His latest books, A Different Lie and The Way I Die, continue The Silver Bear series. Haas’s recent short story, “Benchley”, is featured in Leslie S. Klinger’s upcoming book In League with Sherlock Holmes, a collection of tales about Holmes and Watson. Born and raised in Texas, Haas attended Baylor University for both undergraduate and graduate work, earning a B.A. and an M.A. in English literature.
Leslie S. Klinger
2018 Author, 2020 Moderator, 2021 Moderator
Leslie S. Klinger is considered to be one of the world’s foremost authorities on the history of crime writing. Klinger’s work has received numerous awards and nominations, including the Edgar® for Best Critical-Biographical Book in 2005 for The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories and the Edgar for Best Critical-Biographical Book in 2019 for Classic American Crime Fiction of the 1920s, and he is the editor of the Library of Congress Crime Classics series, published by Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks, and the Library of Congress.
Author's WebsiteProduced in partnership with the Altadena Library District
Produced in partnership with the Altadena Library District
