Anita Page’s short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Murder New York Style and in the journals Word Riot, Mouth Full of Bullets, Mysterical-e, Ball State University Forum, Jewish Horizons, and Heresies. While working as a freelance journalist in upstate New York, she learned about the events that would later inspire the story “Red Dog.” Anita Page and her husband live in the mid Hudson Valley, where she taught and now writes full-time. She recently completed her first novel, a dark-edged traditional mystery set in the Catskill Mountains.
Barbara Parker used to practice law, but she gave it up to create fictional attorneys who make more money, have more fun, and never lose their cases. Best known for her “Suspicion” series of legal thrillers set in Miami (the first was nominated for an Edgar Award), she has penned nonseries novels as well. Her latest project, The Dark of Day, published in 2008, features a high-profile murder among the rich and decadent on South Beach. Before becoming a New York Times bestselling author, Barbara earned an MFA in creative writing from Florida International University (Miami). She has previously published one story, for the anthology Miami Noir.Doing “A Clerk’s Life” reminded her why she left the profession: it is far easier to write about lawyers than to be one. She lives in South Florida, a few blocks from the ocean.
A Stanford graduate and former plaintiff’s trial lawyer, Twist Phelan writes critically acclaimed short stories, suspense novels set in the business world, and the legal-themed Pinnacle Peak mystery series. Find out more about Twist and her work at www.twistphelan.com.
John Walter Putre is a former academic, teacher, and administrator who began writing full-time in 1984. His two mystery novels, A Small and Incidental Murder and Death among the Angels, were published in 1990 and 1991 respectively. “The Evil We Do” is Putre’s first venture into the short-story genre. He lives with his wife and feline companion on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where he is currently at work polishing the final draft of a suspense novel, tentatively titled Treason, set in North Africa and Spain during the Second World War.
S. J. Rozan, a native New Yorker, is the author of eleven novels. She has won the Edgar, Nero, Macavity, Shamus, and Anthony awards for Best Novel and the Edgar Award for Best Short Story. She is a former Mystery Writers of America national board member, a current Sisters in Crime national board member, and president of the Private Eye Writers of America. In 2003 she was an invited speaker at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In 2005 she was guest of honor at the Left Coast Crime convention.
Morley Swingle is the prosecuting attorney for Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. He has prosecuted 71 homicide cases and more than 120 jury trials, some featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Dateline, and Forensic Files. His historical mystery/thrillers include The Gold of Cape Girardeau(winner of the 2005 Book Award from the Missouri Humanities Council and praised as “absorbing courtroom drama” by Elmore Leonard) and Bootheel Man(a finalist for the 2008 William Rockhill Nelson Award for fiction). His true crime/humor, Scoundrels to the Hoosegow: Perry Mason Moments and Entertaining Cases from the Files of a Prosecuting Attorney, hailed as “engrossing” and “highly recommended” by Vincent Bugliosi, is described as a combination of Law & Order and Seinfeld.
Joseph Wallace grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where—despite his best efforts—he somehow managed to stay away from courtrooms. During more than twenty years as a nonfiction writer, he’s traveled the world, gaining invaluable material for crime stories, while frequently ending up in places no sane tourist would want to visit. His first story appeared in 2006’s Baltimore Noir, edited by Laura Lippman, and since then he’s placed stories in Hardboiled Brooklyn, Bronx Noir, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. He’s thrilled to be included in The Prosecution Rests.
Angela Zeman is the author of The Witch and the Borscht Pearl, a novel using characters from a series published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Her work receives high praise from Publishers Weekly and other venues. Her story “Green Heat,” first published in A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, edited by Jeffery Deaver, was selected by Otto Penzler and Nelson DeMille for The Best American Mystery Stories: 2004. Her stories often appear in anthologies; for instance: Nancy Pickard’s Mom, Apple Pie, and Murder; Stuart Kaminsky’s Show Business Is Murder; a Spanish-language homage to Raymond Carver; and Mystery Writers of America’s 2008 anthology On the Raven’s Wing, published in honor of Edgar Allan Poe’s 200th birthday. She also contributes to nonfiction publications, such as the award-winning The Fine Art of Murder. More information can be found at www.AngelaZeman.com and under “FaeryHillProductions” on MySpace and CrimeSpace. She contributes to www.CriminalBrief.com, the short-story weblog.
ABOUT MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA
Mystery Writers of America, the premier organization for established and aspiring mystery writers, is dedicated to promoting higher regard for crime writing, and recognition and respect for those who write within the genre.
COPYRIGHTS
“Designer Justice,” copyright © 2009 by Phyllis Cohen
“Follow Up,” copyright © 2009 by Jo Dereske
“By Hook or by Crook,” copyright © 2009 by Charlie Drees
“The Letter,” copyright © 2009 by Eileen Dunbaugh
“Going Under,” copyright © 1997 by Linda Fairstein. First published in The Plot Thickens, Pocket Books (1997).
“The Prosecution Rests: An Introduction,” copyright © 2009 by Linda Fairstein
“Spectral Evidence,” copyright © 2009 by Kate Gallison
“Knife Fight,” copyright © 2009 by Joel Goldman
“Death, Cheated,” copyright © 2009 by James Grippando. All rights reserved.
“My Brother’s Keeper,” copyright © 2009 by Daniel J. Hale
“The Flashlight Game,” copyright © 2009 by Diana Hansen-Young
“The Secret Session,” copyright © 2009 by Patricia M. Hoch
“Mom Is My Co-Counsel,” copyright © 2009 by Paul Levine
“Quality of Mercy,” copyright © 2009 by Leigh Lundin
“The Mother,” copyright © 2009 by Michele Martinez
“Red Dog,” copyright © 2009 by Anita Page
“A Clerk’s Life,” copyright © 2009 by Barbara Parker
“Time Will Tell,” copyright © 2009 by Twist Phelan, Inc.
“The Evil We Do,” copyright © 2009 by John Walter Putre
“Night Court,” copyright © 2009 by S. J. Rozan
“Hard Blows,” copyright © 2009 by Morley Swingle
“Custom Sets,” copyright © 2009 by Joseph Wallace
“Bang,” copyright © 2009 by Angela Zeman
Mystery Writers of America Presents the Prosecution Rests Page 39
