Peter Abrahams (born 28 June 1947) is an American writer of crime thrillers. His works include Oblivion, The Tutor, The Fury of Rachel Monette, Hard Rain, The Fan , Crying Wolf, Last of the Dixie Heroes, the Echo Falls Mysteries, and Lights Out, the last of which was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel.
His literary influences are Vladimir Nabokov, Graham Greene and Ross Macdonald. Stephen King has referred to him as "my favorite American suspense novelist".
Born in Boston, Abrahams previously lived in Ottawa and worked as a CBC television producer. He is currently living in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod with his wife and children.
Abrahams has started a series for younger readers called the Echo Falls Mysteries. There are three books in the series: Down the Rabbit Hole, Behind the Curtain, Into the Dark They are all based around teen super sleuth Ingrid Levin-Hill
Writing as Spencer Quinn, Abrahams is the author of the Chet and Bernie Mysteries, including Dog On It, Thereby Hangs a Tail, To Fetch a Thief and The Dog Who Knew Too Much. These stories are told from the point of view of Chet, Bernie's canine partner in the Little Detective Agency.
It was not initially known that Abrahams was Quinn. It took some work by journalists to determine who "Quinn" really is. http://www.sarahweinman.com/confessions/2009/03/solving-the-mystery-of-spencer-quinns-true-identity.html Chet has his own website www.chetthedog.com, and he's on Facebook.