Greg Iles

Greg Iles was born in Germany in 1960, where his father ran the US Embassy Medical Clinic during the height of the Cold War. He spent his youth in Natchez, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1983. Greg spent several years playing music in the band "Frankly Scarlet." The year after he was married, he gigged on the road for 50 weeks out of 52, and realized that this lifestyle was simply not sustainable with a family. He quit the band and began working eighteen hours a day on his first novel, Spandau Phoenix, a thriller about Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess. When Greg sold this manuscript, he left the music business to complete the book. Spandau Phoenix was published in 1993 and became the first of eight New York Times bestsellers.

Over the course of his next few books, Greg broke the formula adhered to by most commercial novelists and wrote in a variety of genres. Perhaps surprisingly, each found a place on the bestseller list, and today, readers look forward to discovering what new subject Greg has explored in his latest novel.

In 2002, he wrote the script of his novel "24 Hours" in one week while he had the flu. "24 Hours" was rewritten by director Don Roos and renamed Trapped (2002), which Greg then rewrote at the request of the producers and actors, beginning the day of the actual shoot and working almost around the clock during shooting--to mixed results. Greg calls this a learning experience, and will add an essay about this experience to the site soon.

Greg's novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages and published in more than twenty countries worldwide. He is currently working on "Turning Angel," his third book for Scribner, a shocking exploration of the world of a modern prep school. It begins, of course, with a murder.

Greg still spends much of his free time playing music. He is a member of the legendary group "The Rock Bottom Remainders," which includes authors Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Stephen King, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Matt Groening, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, and James McBride. The special guest for this fall's "WannaPalooza Tour" was Roger McGuinn, co-founder of the Byrds.

Greg currently lives in Natchez, Mississippi, with his wife and his two children. His latest novel, Blood Memory was published on February 15, 2005, and debuted at #8 on the New York Times bestseller list.