Stop the Presses!

Tom Reed
Created by Rick Mofina

TOM REED is a Pulitzer-nominated crime reporter for The San Francisco Star who's appeared in four tough, fast-paced PBO thrillers so far.

Tom's got a nose for breaking news -- and the scars to prove it. And he's also got more than enough drama in his personal life (a drinking problem, a shaky marriage), and an unfortunate tendency to get in way over his head when investigating a story.

Fortunately, he can usually count on his buddy, veteran Homicide Inspector Walt Sydowski, for help. Walt's something of a local legend in San Francisco, a cranky old-timer facing down his pending retirement, who still maintains one of California's highest murder clearance rates. It's good to have friends, eh?

One of the more refreshing aspects of this series is that while far too often the media is portrayed as cold-hearted leeches or blow-dried, brain-dead twits preying on tragedy, Mofina offers up an alternative: a true insider's look at journalism, where police and reporters actually get along (at least, sometimes).

And why not? Rick Mofina is honest-to-goodness reporter who's covered true crime around the world, and he clearly knows his stuff. According to his bio, he's interviewed "murderers on death row in Montana and Texas, has covered a serial killing case in California, an armored car heist in Las Vegas, the murders of police officers in Alberta, flown over Los Angeles with the LAPD, and gone on patrol with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He has reported from the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East."

Mofina grew up in Belleville, Ontario and began writing fiction in grade school. At age 15, he sold his first short story to a U.S. magazine, and in his teens he hitchhiked to California, and later wrote a novel about the experience. He's worked at a horseracing track, deliveried cars to Florida, and attended Carleton University, studying Journalism, English Literature, and American Detective Fiction. He became a reporter at The Toronto Star before embarking on a career in journalism that spans three decades and several newsrooms. His true-crime reporting has appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Reader's Digest, Marie Claire, The South China Morning Post magazine and The Moscow Times. His first published novel, If Angels Fall, was a Best First Novel finalist for an Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada, and he's since become something of a regular whenever the nominations are passed out. In fact, Blood of Others, won the 2003 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel.

Rick is currently based in Ottawa where he lives with his wife and their two children, and writes for a national newswire service.

UNDER OATH

• "One of the leading thriller writers of the day"
  (Penthouse)
  .
• "No Way Back is my kind of novel - a tough, taut thriller - Mofina knows the world he writes about."
  (Michael Connelly)

NOVELS

• If Angels Fall (2000). Buy this book
• Cold Fear (2001). Buy this book
• Blood of Others (2002). Buy this book
• No Way Back (2003). Buy this book

RELATED LINKS

• Rick Mofina
  The author's official web site.

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.