Stuart Neville's debut novel, The Twelve (published in the USA as The Ghosts of Belfast), won the Mystery/Thriller category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was picked as one of the top crime novels of 2009 by both the New York Times and the LA Times. He has since published ten more critically acclaimed books, two of which were under the pen name Haylen Beck, and a collection of short stories. He has been shortlisted for several awards, including the MWA Edgar Award for Best Novel, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, the Barry, Macavity, and Dilys awards, and the Irish Book Awards Crime Novel of the Year.