Cynthia Harrod-Eagles is the author of over eighty novels in a variety of genres, including the Bill Slider Mysteries (Blood Sinister, Gone Tomorrow, Dear Departed, etc.) and the Morland Dynasty novels. Harrod-Eagles was born and educated in Shepherd's Bush, London and had a variety of jobs in the commercial world, starting as a junior cashier at Woolworth's and working her way down to Pensions Officer at the BBC. She won the Young Writer's Award in 1973, and became a full-time writer in 1978.