Dreda Say Mitchell was born in London's East End in 1965. She has worked as an education consultant and a teacher in both primary and secondary schools. She has a degree in African history from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and a MA in education studies. Her first novel, RUNNING HOT, was published in 2004 by the Maia Press and won the Crime Writers' Association's John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for best first novel. She loves to travel, with her hot feet taking her as far a field as Cambodia and Laos to the Lebanon and Ethiopia. She especially loves to relax in Grenada where her family are from. She continues to live in east London with her partner, Tony.