Bio

I am a fiction writer, book critic, and assistant professor of English at George Mason University.

My short stories have appeared in magazines and journals including Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Barrelhouse, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, and North American Review; online at Fiction Weekly, PANK, Prick of the Spindle, and SmokeLong Quarterly; and in various regional journals/newspapers based in my home state of North Carolina. "A Voice from the Past," originally published in EQMM, was listed among "Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2009" in the 2010 Best American Mystery Stories anthology. "Rearview Mirror," another EQMM story, received the 2011 Derringer Award for Best Novelette.

Since 2001, I’ve been a contributing editor for Metro Magazine in Raleigh, N.C., with a focus on literary news and reviews. Since 2005, I’ve been a semi-regular reviewer for the Washington Post Book World, concentrating on mysteries and thrillers. In 2010, I was named to the editorial board of the North Carolina Literary Review. Other literary essays/reviews have appeared in publications including The Armchair Detective, Mississippi Quarterly, Mystery Scene, The Strand, Spectator, The Independent, and The Oxford American, among others.

A native of Richlands, N.C., I’m a graduate of Yale University (B.A. American Studies) and also hold an M.A. in English/creative writing from N.C. State University and an M.F.A. in Fiction from George Mason University (GMU), where I now teach creative writing, composition, and literature, and help to coordinate marketing for the annual Fall for the Book Festival.

Before returning to academia, I worked as assistant director of communications for the North Carolina Museum of Art, and prior to that as managing editor of Spectator magazine, an alternative weekly in Raleigh, N.C.

A member of the N.C. Writers’ Network since 1992, I chaired the Network’s Fall Conferences in 2000 and 2002 and have served as president of the Network’s Board of Trustees. A member of Mystery Writers of America since 1996, I currently co-chair the programming committee for MWA's Mid-Atlantic Chapter. Other memberships include: International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, and the National Book Critics Circle.

I'm married to the writer Tara Laskowski.