Matthew Ross was born and raised in the Medway Towns, England. He lives in Kent with his Kiwi wife, his children, a very old cat and an extremely bouncy puppy.Several years ago he ticked off a lifelong ambition and tried his hand at stand-up comedy. He enjoyed the writing more than the performing and got approached by a leading stand-up comedian to provide material for their nationwide theatre tours, Edinburgh Fringe shows and their appearances on shows such as 'Mock The Week', 'Have I Got News For You' and 'The News Quiz'. But the itch wouldn't go away and he wanted to write again. So he joined the Faber Academy 6-month Novel Writing course in 2016 under Richard Skinner's tutelage and it changed his life.Matthew drew influence from his experiences in the construction industry when writing his darkly comic crime novels, Death Of A Painter and The Red Admiral's Secret featuring the misadventures of beleaguered builder Mark Poynter and his crew of idlers, slackers and gossips.Matthew enjoys reading all manner of books - especially crime.