Greatest Hits: Original Stories of Assassins, Hit Men, and Hired Guns

Robert J. Randisi has written more than four hundred Westerns, including the long-running Gunsmith series. He is also the editor of thirty anthologies and a Writer’s Digest book, Writing the Private Eye Novel. He founded the Private Eye Writers of America in 1982 and created the Shamus Award; he also cofounded Mystery Scene magazine and the American Crime Writer’s League. He lives in Clarksville, Missouri.

Lawrence Block is one of the most widely recognized names in the mystery genre. He has been named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and is a four-time winner of the prestigious Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, and Japan. He received the Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association—only the third American to be given this award. He is a prolific author, having written more than fifty books and numerous short stories, and is a devoted New Yorker and an enthusiastic global traveler.

Jeffery Deaver is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world. A former journalist, folksinger, and attorney, he was born outside of Chicago and has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University. You can visit his website at www.JefferyDeaver.com.

Max Allan Collins is a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. He is the author of the Shamus Award-winning Nathan Heller thrillers and the graphic novel Road to Perdition, basis of the Academy Award-winning film starring Tom Hanks. His innovative Quarry novels led to a 2016 Cinemax series. He has completed a dozen posthumous Mickey Spillane mysteries, and wrote the syndicated Dick Tracy series for more than fifteen years. His one-man show, Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life, was an Edgar Award finalist. He lives in Iowa.

Barbara Seranella (1956–2007) grew up in Pacific Palisades, California. After a restless childhood that included running away from home at the age of fourteen, joining a hippie commune in the Haight, and riding with outlaw motorcycle clubs, she decided to settle down and do something normal—she became an auto mechanic, and that was the occupation she chose for her heroine when she switched from fixing cars to writing about them. She later became a member of the Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego chapters of Sisters in Crime and the Mystery Writers of America.

Lee Child is one of the world's leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in New York. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world and have sold over one hundred million copies. Two blockbusting Jack Reacher movies have been made so far. He is the recipient of many awards, most recently the CWA's Diamond Dagger for a writer of an outstanding body of crime fiction, the International Thriller Writers' ThrillerMaster, and the Theakstons Old Peculier Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction Award.

Jeff Abbott is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen novels. He is the winner of an International Thriller Writers Award (for the Sam Capra thriller The Last Minute) and is a three-time nominee for the Edgar award. He lives in Austin with his family. You can visit his website at www.JeffAbbott.com.

John Harvey is an incredibly prolific British mystery writer. The author of more than one hundred books, as well as poetry and scripts for television and radio, Harvey did not begin writing professionally until 1975. Until then he was a teacher, educated at Goldsmiths College, London, who taught literature, drama, and film at colleges across England. After cutting his teeth on paperback fiction, Harvey debuted his most famous character, Charlie Resnick, in 1989's Lonely Hearts, which the English Times called one of the finest crime novels of the century.

James W. Hall is an Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author whose books have been translated into a dozen languages. He divides his time between South Florida and North Carolina.

Kevin Wignall, a British writer born in Brussels, is the author of several books, including Who Is Conrad Hirst, which was shortlisted for the Edward Award and the Barry Award, and The Hunter’s Prayer, which was originally titled For the Dogs in the USA and which was made into a film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Sam Worthington and Odeya Rush.

Marcus Pelegrimas is an American author of fiction in numerous genres, including westerns, mystery, horror, and fantasy. He is the author of the Skinners series, the Gillis Ledgers series. Writing as Marcus Galloway, he is the author of the Man from Boot Hill series and the Accomplice series, along with many standalone novels. He graduated from the University of Nebraska with a degree in criminal justice.

Jenny Siler grew up in Missoula, Montana. For much of her life, she has traveled and worked her way around the world, starting as a prep cook in the scullery of a men’s soup kitchen, through working in a fish cannery in Alaska pulling salmon roe, to being a nude sketch model at an art museum in Frankfurt. Her work, she says, has defined her and her writing.

Ed Gorman is an award-winning American author best known for his crime, mystery, Western, and horror fiction. He has won a Spur Award for best short Western fiction and the Anthony Award for best critical work and in 2011 received the Eye, the lifetime achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America. His award nominations include the Edgar Award, Bram Stoker Award, and numerous Anthony Awards. He has written over one hundred novels and short stories under various pen names and his stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, including The Shamus Winners.

Christine Matthews ’ short stories have been chosen for inclusion in many anthologies of year’s best stories. She is the coauthor with Robert J. Randisi of three cozy mysteries Murder Is the Deal of the Day, The Masks of Auntie Laveau, and Same Time, Same Murder.

Others, as in, not you

Richard Gilliland is a veteran television and film actor.

Kevin Baker is the author of one previous novel, Sometimes You See It Coming, and served as chief historical researcher for the recently published The American Century by Harold Evans. He is married and lives in New York City.John Rubenstein won a Theater World Award, a Tony, and a Drama Desk Award for his performances in Pippin and Children of a Lesser God.

Stefan Rudnicki is an award winning audiobook narrator, director and producer. He was born in Poland and now resides in Studio City, California. He has narrated more than three hundred audiobooks and has participated in over a thousand as a writer, producer, or director. He is a recipient of multiple Audie Awards and AudioFile Earphones Awards as well as a Grammy Award, a Bram Stoker Award, and a Ray Bradbury Award. He received AudioFile’s award for 2008 Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy. Along with a cast of other narrators, Rudnicki has read a number of Orson Scott Card's best-selling science fiction novels. He worked extensively with many other science fiction authors, including David Weber and Ben Bova. In reviewing the twentieth anniversary edition audiobook of Card’s Ender's Game, Publishers Weekly stated, "Rudnicki, with his lulling, sonorous voice, does a fine job articulating Ender's inner struggle between the kind, peaceful boy he wants to be and the savage, violent actions he is frequently forced to take." Rudnicki is also a stage actor and director.

Gabrielle de Cuir is a Grammy-nominated and Audie Award-winning producer whose narration credits include the voice of Valentine in Orson Scott Card’s Ender novels, Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan, and Natalie Angier’s Woman, for which she was awarded AudioFile magazine’s Golden Earphones Award. She lives in Los Angeles where she also directs theatre and presently has several projects in various stages of development for film.

Maxwell Caulfield is a film, stage, and television actor best known for his roles as Michael Carrington in the 1982 film Grease 2 and Miles Colby in the television shows The Colbys and Dynasty. His other acting credits include the films Gettysburg, The Real Blonde, and Emmerdale. He has won six AudioFile Earphones Awards.

Stephen Hoye has won thirteen AudioFile Earphones Awards and two prestigious APA Audie Awards, including one for the New York Times bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki. A graduate of London's Guildhall and a veteran of London's West End, Stephen has recorded many other notable titles, such as Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong and The Google Story by David A. Vise and Mark Malseed.

Rex Linn, a winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration in 2014, is an American film and television actor best known for his role as Frank Tripp in the television series CSI: Miami. Besides numerous other television roles, he has had roles in Django Unchained, Trial by Fire, and other major films. He was born and raised in the Texas panhandle and earned a BA in radio, television, and film from Oklahoma State University.

Charles Kahlenberg 's experience in the entertainment business spans over three decades. His film credits began with Coal Miner’s Daughter and, more recently, Wedding Crashers and Fun With Dick and Jane. His television credits include Justice, Cold Case, ER, and Seinfeld. His voice-over work has been heard in many major motion pictures and television shows and more than 100 national commercials.