Mark Arsenault

Mark Arsenault is a Shamus-nominated mystery writer, a journalist, a runner, hiker, reader, political junkie and eBay fanatic, cursed with an incurable itch to collect memorabilia from the 1939 New York World's Fair. His new novel, LOOT THE MOON, was released October 13 by St. Martin's Press. It's the second book in the Billy Povich series that began with GRAVEWRITER, a noir thriller praised for a fusion of suspense, humor and human tenderness.

Arsenault's debut novel, SPIKED, (2003, Poisoned Pen Press) was a finalist for the Shamus Award for Best First Mystery. The story was drawn from his experience as a journalist writing about heroin addicts who lived desperate lives of crime, love and addiction beneath a railroad bridge in Lowell, Massachusetts. His follow-up novel, SPEAK ILL OF THE LIVING, (2005, Poisoned Pen Press) was inspired by two years of jailhouse interviews inside "Supermax," Rhode Island's most secure prison.

With 20 years of experience as a print reporter, Arsenault is one of those weird cranks who still prefers his news on paper.

When he's not at his keyboard, you might find him backpacking up the side of a mountain.