Rebecca Gowers was born in the west of England and brought up south of the Thames in London. She studied English at Cambridge, did graduate research at Oxford on the literature of Victorian police detectives and has worked as a freelance journalist. Her first book, The Swamp of Death, was shortlisted in 2004 for a CWA Golden Dagger Award for non-fiction. When to Walk, her first novel, was longlisted for the Orange Prize. She lives in Oxford, England.
