DECLAN BURKE is one of Ireland's leading crime fiction authors. He reviews regularly for a variety of national newspapers and magazines, and hosts the website Crime Always Pays. Declan has published several novels including Absolute Zero Cool which was shortlisted in the crime fiction section for the Irish Book Awards 2011, and received the Goldsboro/Crimefest 'Last Laugh' Award for Best Humorous Crime Novel in 2012. He is the editor of Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing in the 21st Century (2011), and the co-editor, with John Connolly, of Books to Die For (2012). Declan lives in Wicklow with his wife and daughter, where he is not allowed to own a cat, or be owned by one.