After careers as a journalist, criminal lawyer, and political activist, William Deverell turned to fiction and on his first effort won the $50,000 Seal First Novel Award. Since then, he has earned multiple prizes for his 20 published novels, including the Dashiell Hammett Prize for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing in North America, two Crime Writers of Canada Awards (formerly the Arthur Ellis Award) for Best Canadian Novel, and two runners-up for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour. He holds two honorary Doctor of Letters degrees and lives in Pender Island, British Columbia.