Megan Abbott


Megan Abbott is an American author of crime fiction and of a non-fiction analysis of hardboiled crime fiction. Her novels and short stories have drawn from and re-worked classic subgenres of crime writing, from a female perspective.

Biography

Abbott graduated from the University of Michigan. Growing up, Abbott was greatly intrigued by the 1930 and 1940s movies she saw at a movie theater in Grosse Pointe. Watching these films as a child are what she believes gave her her lifelong interest in crime fiction. She received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University, and has taught at NYU, the State University of New York and the New School University. In 2013-2014, she served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi.

Influences

Abbott was influenced by film noir, classic noir fiction, and Jeffrey Eugenides's novel The Virgin Suicides. Two of her novels reference notorious crimes. The Song Is You is based around the disappearance of Jean Spangler in 1949, and Bury Me Deep on the 1931 case of Winnie Ruth Judd, dubbed "the Trunk Murderess".

Reception and awards

Abbott has won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for outstanding fiction. Time named her one of the "23 Authors That We Admire" in 2011. Publishers Weekly gave her 2011 novel The End of Everything a starred review.

Novels

Won: 2008 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, 2008 Barry Award for Best Paperback Novel
Nominated: 2008 Anthony award for Best Paperback Original.
Nominated: 2010 Anthony award for Best Paperback Original
Abbott has written for major journals and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times. She also writes a blog with novelist Sara Gran.

Screenwriter