Author Biography
Paul Halter was born in Hagenau, Alsace, in 1956. He pursued technical studies before joining the French Marines, later selling life insurance. He augmented his income playing guitar in the local dance orchestra. Upon discovering the works of John Dickson Carr, he gave up the guitar for the pen. Later, he gave up life insurance for a job in the state-owned telecommunications company France Telecom. With his second book La Quatrieme Porte (The Fourth Door), he won the coveted Prix du Roman Policier at the 1987 Festival de Cognac, awarded for the best work of detective fiction. In 1988 he won possibly the most prestigious prize in French mystery fiction: Le Prix du Roman d'Aventures for Le Brouillard Rouge (The Crimson Fog). He has written more than thirty novels and ten short stories, all in Golden Age style and almost all 'locked room.' He is a frequent contributor to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and a collection of his short stories The Night of the Wolf, was published in 2006 to critical acclaim. One of the stories in that collection, The Flower Girl, was nominated in 2007 for the Barry Award for Best Short Story. Like Carr, the prolific Monsieur Halter has created two series detectives: Dr. Alan Twist, whose cases are set in England in the 1930's through 1950's; and Owen Burns, who solves mysteries set in early 20th century London. Both make their considerable talents available to Scotland Yard: Twist advises the irascible Inspector Hurst and Burns is frequently called in by the stoical Inspector Wedekind. Burns benefits from the added assistance of his biographer Achilles Stock. Halter is a staunch defender of the Golden Age school of detective fiction, with emphasis on development of ingenious plots (as opposed to the exploration of the detective's psyche); fair clues; red herrings; and a denouement which brings about a satisfying conclusion. Not to mention breathtakingly clever ways of killing people in seemingly impossible circumstances. Make no mistake about it, he is not trying to pluck at your heartstrings, play on your social conscience, ram his political opinions down your throat, or give you a guided cultural and gastronomical tour of some quaint European city; he is out to challenge your reason. He wants to baffle, bamboozle, bemuse and bewilder you. The reader is warned.
