CHARLES ARDAI (1969, New York) won an Edgar Award in 2007 for his short story "The Home Front" and his work has also been twice nominated for the the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America. He has published two novels, Little Girl Lost and Songs of Innocence, and his short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, as well as in numerous anthologies, including Best Mystery Stories of the Year and The Year's Best Horror Stories. In addition to his own writing, Ardai is the founder and editor of the award-winning Hard Case Crime series of pulp-style paperback crime novels, in which capacity he has had the opportunity to edit the work of Stephen King, Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, Ed McBain, Pete Hamill, and several dozen other authors. Ardai is also the founder of the Internet company Juno and serves as a managing director at the D. E. Shaw group. He lives in New York City with his wife, the writer Naomi Novik.