Andrew Taylor

Nominated Title: The American Boy
Other Titles: Our Father's Lies, Snapshot, The Office Of The Dead
Publisher: Michael Joseph / Penguin

''The American Boy' - review by Chris High

www.unusualsuspects.co.uk

A boy of the Fens, Andrew Taylor was educated at Cambridge and secured and relieved positions as a librarian, teacher, wages clerk and boat-builder before turning to full time writing in 1981.

An author of over twenty books, Andrew is responsible for creating the intriguing detective William Dougal, a man not adverse to creating as well as solving murder cases when the need arises and who has won Andrew awards aplenty.

Taylor's Roth Trilogy, set from the 1950's to the present, is an ambitious and highly successful change of style, as each book is fully self-contained though connects with each of the remaining two novels, perfectly. The 1997 novel, The Last Four Things, set in the present, explores the disappearance of a young girl named Lucy, which turns into a hunt for the killer of what appears to be religious sacrifices.

When not writing books, Andrew occasionally reviews other works for The Spectator, writes for The Independent newspaper and edits the literary magazine The Author.

Andrew lives in The Forest Of Dean with his wife, two children and their two cats, Max and Tom

www.andrew-taylor.co.uk