Love Is Murder Mystery Conference

Joseph Finder’s plan was to become a spy. Or maybe a professor of Russian history. Instead he became a bestselling thriller writer, and winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel for KILLER INSTINCT (2006) and winner of the Barry and Gumshoe Awards for Best Thriller for COMPANY MAN (2005).

Born in Chicago, Joe spent his early childhood living around the world, including Afghanistan and the Philippines. In fact, Joe’s first language — even before English — was Farsi, which he spoke as a child in Kabul. Finally, after a stint in Bellingham, WA, his family finally settled outside of Albany, NY.

After taking a high school seminar on the literature and history of Russia, Joe was hooked. He went on to major in Russian studies at Yale, where he also sang with the school's legendary a cappella group, the Whiffenpoofs (and likes to boast that he sang next to Ella Fitzgerald, an honorary Whiffenpoof). Joe graduated summa cum laude from Yale College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, then completed a master’s degree at the Harvard Russian Research Center, and later taught on the Harvard faculty. He was recruited to the Central Intelligence Agency but eventually decided he preferred writing fiction.

His first book, published in 1983 when Joe was only 24, was a non-fiction exposé that resulted in threats of a libel suit. RED CARPET: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE KREMLIN AND AMERICA'S MOST POWERFUL BUSINESSMEN was the first book to reveal that the controversial multi-millionaire Dr. Armand Hammer, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum, had worked for Soviet intelligence in the 1920s and 1930s. (This book is no longer in print.)

But RED CARPET was only part of the story that Joe wanted to tell. So he wrote his first novel – the only way he could legally tell the whole Armand Hammer saga. Published in 1991, THE MOSCOW CLUB described events whose factual truth would only be revealed many years later. THE MOSCOW CLUB was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the ten best spy thrillers of all time and was published in thirty foreign countries.

What followed were three more critically-acclaimed thrillers – EXTRAORDINARY POWERS, THE ZERO HOUR (sold to Twentieth-Century Fox for a record sum) and HIGH CRIMES, which became a 2002 Fox film starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Joe was invited on the movie set and even cast for a nonspeaking role as a JAG prosecutor.

Published in 2004, PARANOIA represented a major turning point in Joe’s career, landing on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists, among others. It was his first book to use the ruthless drive, corruption and conspiracy of the corporate world as riveting plotline. Called “fun...movie-ready...[with] twists aplenty...” by Entertainment Weekly, PARANOIA has been acquired by Gaumont, one of the world’s largest film production and distribution companies. The movie deal was announced in April 2009, with Barry Levy (“Vantage Point”) set to script the adaptation.  

Joe’s next three novels – COMPANY MAN, KILLER INSTINCT and POWER PLAY – were all bestsellers in which things were decidedly not business as usual. He was quickly hailed as “the CEO of suspense.”

Joe’s latest novel VANISHED, published August 2009 by St. Martin's Press, launched a four-book series featuring corporate security specialist Nick Heller. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator – exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He's also the man you call when you need a problem fixed.

In addition to his fiction, Joe does occasional work for Hollywood and has written on espionage and international affairs for a number of publications, including TheDailyBeast.com, Forbes, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Republic. In an April 2006 New York Times Book Review article, Joe discussed his fascination with ambition as a subject for fiction. He roots for the Boston Red Sox and lives in Boston with his wife, daughter, and a needy golden retriever, Mia, a dropout from seeing-eye-dog school.

His Novels

• THE MOSCOW CLUB (1991) - Published in 30 foreign countries and a bestseller throughout Europe.
• EXTRAORDINARY POWERS (1994) – This novel about the discovery of a Soviet mole in the highest ranks of the CIA was published just days before the unmasking of CIA mole Aldrich Ames.
• THE ZERO HOUR (1995) - First novel ever written with the official cooperation of both the CIA and the FBI.
• HIGH CRIMES (1998) – A Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Became a 2002 Fox film starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman.
• PARANOIA (2004) – Instant New York Times bestseller. Film rights have been acquired by powerhouse producer-distributor Gaumont.
• COMPANY MAN (2005) – Winner of the Barry and Gumshoe Awards for Best Thriller.
• KILLER INSTINCT (2006) – Winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for Best Novel.
• POWER PLAY (2007) – Debuted at #7 on the New York Times bestseller list.
• VANISHED (published August 2009) – Launches Joe’s first series after eight standalone novels.

Website: http://www.josephfinder.com

In my three decades of writing, almost everything I've learned has arrived after much suffering. There are some basic things that can speed a writer along the path to publication or better structured stories. Most books are rejected because of plot or structure failure. By answering a few questions, a writer can shape the story in ways that avoid sagging middles and plot confusion. I'll discuss these questions and how to apply them. Had someone told me these basic things, I would probably have been too hard-headed to listen, but had I listened, I would have saved myself a number of rejections.

When I was growing up in the small town of Lucedale, Mississippi, I had big dreams. I wanted to be a cowgirl, a writer, and Nancy Drew. Life has surely thrown me more than a few twists, but dreams are hard to destroy.  Today, I’m all three--sort of. Of course the only mysteries I solve are in Zinnia, Mississippi. And I have the help of Sarah Booth Delaney, Tinkie, Cece, Coleman, Millie and a host of other characters. They’ll be quick to tell you they do all the hard work--I’m just the writer. Read More

Website: http://www.carolynhaines.com/