CHESTER HIMES began his writing career in 1932 while serving in the Ohio State Penitentiary for armed robbery. In 1953, Himes moved to Europe, and it was in France that he began his popular series of crime novels featuring two Harlem policemen. In 1958, he won France's prestigious Grand Priz de Littérature Policère. He died in Spain in 1984.

S. A. COSBY is the award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of All the Sinners Bleed, Razorblade Tears, and Blacktop Wasteland, the last of which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others.