Lyn Hamilton

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Lyn Hamilton is the author of a successful series of archaeological mysteries published by Berkley Prime Crime in New York. The series features Toronto antique dealer Lara McClintoch, who travels the world in search of the rare and beautiful for her shop, finding more than a little murder and mayhem along the way. Each book in the series is set in a different and exotic location and calls upon the past in an unusual way. The first book in the series, The Xibalba Murders, was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Award for best first crime novel in Canada, and the eighth, The Magyar Venus was nominated for an Ellis award for best crime novel. The Celtic Riddle formed the basis for the 2003 Murder, She Wrote TV Movie, Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic Riddle, starring Angela Lansbury.

Courses in both cultural and physical anthropology in her student days at the University of Toronto inspired a life-long interest in ancient cultures. Lyn was for six years the Director of the Ontario Cultural Programs Branch, the branch responsible for the licensing of all archaeology in the province as well as for museum and heritage conservation support programs.

Lyn visits each of the locales she writes about, and has led tours to some of the sites in her books. She plans a tour to Peru in February 2006 to visit the world of the Inca, and also the Moche, subjects of her book The Moche Warrior. Lyn's books have been translated into Chinese, German, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Turkish and will soon be available in Croatian, Greek and Russian.

She was writer-in-residence at the North York Central Library in 2003, and held the same position at the Kitchener Public Library in 2004. She lives in Toronto, and like her sleuth Lara, she is something of an antiques addict.