Persia Walker is the author of acclaimed historical crime novels and short stories. Her books are perennial book club favorites. Her stories are fast-moving, sometimes dark, and always surprising. 

This native New Yorker is a professional nomad. She speaks fluent German and has lived in Germany, Brazil, and Poland.

Her books reflect her fascination with history and her love of those old black-and-white movies, aka film noir. Her stories are set in New York City, most likely because, even with her travels, she really is a New Yorker at heart.

“New York,” she says, “is like that old lover you can’t quite get rid of. You know the kind. Most everybody has or has had one. You keep trying to end the whole thing, permanently, but it just keeps drawing you back.”

She has written for The Associated Press in Arkansas; Washington, DC; and New York. She has also written for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc., (RFE) in Munich, worked as a freelance book editor, and done cultural reporting and voice work for European publications.