Daniel Judson, Shamus Award winner and four-time finalist, is the author of seven acclaimed novels: The Darkest Place, The Water’s Edge, The Violet Hour, Voyeur, and The Gin Palace Trilogy, comprised of The Poisoned Rose, The Bone Orchard, and The Gin Palace.
Though he began submitting novels to publishers when he was nineteen, Daniel remained unpublished for nearly twenty years. A brief study of playwriting and acting in college resulted early on in a research method that is decidedly character-driven and occasionally borders on obsession.
“If I’m writing about a boxer, I’ll learn to box and do a boxer’s workout every afternoon. If I’m writing about a man who’s living in hiding, I’ll slip off the grid as best as I can for a time. I’ll even go as far as to wear what my characters wear or carry in my pockets what they carry in theirs. It’s also important for me to walk the streets they walk, see and hear the things they might see and hear.” This attention to detail has resulted in an acquisition of a wide variety of skills, from Vipassana meditation to Filipino knife-fighting to playing jazz trumpet to quick-drawing and shooting “triple taps” in three seconds. His research for The Betrayer included reading WWII war memoirs (particularly those written by paratroopers) and practicing urban evasion techniques in New York City.
Daniel currently lives in Connecticut with his fiancée and their four rescued cats. He works nights as a bartender and spends his spare time enhancing his current skills and pursuing new ones.
