Timothy Hallinan

While in college, Timothy Hallinan wrote songs and sang in a rock band while in college, of which were recorded by by well-known artists. After graduation, he worked in the television industry. He created a firm, Hallinan Consulting, that created websites for several public television programs, including "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow," "Slavery in America," and "The Supreme Court." His first book, Skin Deep, was published in 1991. Set in Los Angeles, it featured private investigator Simeon Grist, and was the first of six books in the Simeon Grist series. In 2007, he began a second series, set in Bangkok and featuring travel writer Philip ("Poke") Rafferty.

He has been living in Bangkok, Thailand and Phnom Penh, Cambodia for six months of each year since the 1980s. He now writes full-time.