Pierre Lemaitre was born in Paris in 1951. He worked for many years as a teacher of literature before becoming a novelist.

He has won the Crime Writers' Association International Dagger three times, once alongside Fred Vargas, for Alex, and twice as sole winner for Camille and The Great Swindle. In 2013 The Great Swindle (published in French as Au revoir là-haut won the Prix Goncourt, France's leading literary award.

In addition to his Brigade Criminelle novels starring Commandant Camille Verhoeven, Lemaitre writes standalone thrillers including Blood Wedding.