Anthony Hays is a journalist and novelist. He has covered topics as varied as narcotics trafficking, political corruption, Civil War history, and the war on terror. He has visited some 30 countries, living in six—Japan, Kuwait, Poland, the Marshall Islands, Macedonia, and England. During his tenure in the Middle East, he cultivated sources among members of Hezbollah and actually attended a Spring 1997 fundraiser for the Taliban. He also served as the founding chairperson of the Overseas Security Advisory Council—Kuwait, a nonprofit, State Department-sponsored consortium of representatives from the various segments of the American expatriate community, exchanging security information and working closely with the Regional Security Office at the U.S. Embassy in planning for civilian evacuations. His third novel, The Trouble with Patriots, grew out of this experience.

In 2003, he decided to return to his roots, historical mysteries. His efforts have not gone un-rewarded. An active member of Mystery Writers of America and the Appalachian Writer’s Association, he is the author of seven novels, six historical mysteries, and a contemporary satire, The Trouble With Patriots, set in the Middle East. It has now been optioned for film. His first novel, Murder on the Twelfth Night, was nominated for the Tennessee Volunteer Book Award.

The first three volumes in his Dark Ages mysteries, The Killing Way, The Divine Sacrifice, and The Beloved Dead, have met with wide acclaim, each receiving starred reviews from both Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly and glowing praise from Booklist, Kirkus, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, the Historical Novel Society Book Review, and many more. Deadly Pleasures Mystery magazine named The Divine Sacrifice one of the best new mysteries of 2010. Publisher’s Weekly has called Mr. Hays one of the best authors in the medieval field today. The Stolen Bride, the fourth entry in the series, is set for released in April 2012.