Mark grew up in Hertfordshire, England, and now lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three young children.

Over the years, he has been many things: ski instructor, journalist, personal trainer, and bra folder (he lasted one day: fired for giggling at the ridiculousness of the job.  If it's any excuse, he was just nineteen years old.)

His first real career was as a newspaper reporter in Colchester, Essex.  There, he covered the police and crime beat for almost two years.  He also wrote stories on foreign assignments, including accounts from Northern Ireland while with the British Army, and from Romania where he covered the first-anniversary celebrations of that country's revolution.

My Biography

Mark Pryor                   author page

Mark adds:

"I write fiction because I can't help myself, and I set my stories in Paris because I love the city and its people.  And, of course, its food -- snails are a direct (if slow) route to my heart.

"And if you've ever sat in a Paris cafe, watching the world pass by with a carafe of red wine in front of you, then I'm sure you can understand why Hugo lives in Paris.  And if you haven't done those things, well, I encourage you to do so.  Just be sure to invite me along."

Mark moved to America in 1994, mostly for the weather.  He attended journalism school at the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill, and then law school at Duke University, graduating with honors and a lot of debt. And one helluva wife.

He spent sixteen years as an Assistant District Attorney with the Travis County DA's office.  Or, as he told his kids when they were young, "I help catch bad guys."  Simplistic, yes, but you try explaining the judicial system to six-year-old twins!

While writing mystery novels he prosecuted a Mexican Mafia enforcer, murderers, rapists, and robbers. As he put it: "By day I solve crimes, and by night I commit them!"

Mark is now a partner at one of the top criminal defense firms in Austin, Cofer & Connelly. There, unsurprisingly, he practices criminal law, defending the rights of adults and juveniles charged with criminal offenses.