William Shaw
Before becoming a crime writer, William Shaw was an award-winning music journalist and the author of several non-fiction books including Westsiders: Stories of the Boys in the Hood, about a year spent with the young men of South Central Los Angeles, Spying In Guru Land, about time spent investigating religious cults, and A Superhero For Hire, a compilation of columns written for the Observer Magazine.
Starting out as assistant editor of the post-punk magazine ZigZag, he has been a journalist for The Observer, The New York Times, Wired, Arena and The Face and was Amazon UK Music Journalist of the Year in 2003.
In 2021 he created the community bookshop The Book Makers, working with the charity Creative Future and Brighton and Hove City Council. His narrative artwork 41 Places featured on BBC’s Front Row as one of the highlights of the 2007 Brighton Festival.