Megan Abbott (born August 21, 1971) is an American author of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

and of non-fiction analyses of

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

crime fiction. Her novels and short stories have drawn from and re-worked classic subgenres of crime writing from a female perspective. She is also an American

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and producer of television.

Biography

Abbott graduated from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. Growing up, Abbott was greatly intrigued by the 1930 and 1940s movies she saw at a movie theater in Grosse Pointe. She believes that watching these films as a child gave her her lifelong interest in crime fiction. She received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, and has taught at NYU, the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

and the

New School University The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

. In 2013-2014, she served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. In addition to literature, Abbott has written for major journals and newspapers, including the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''. She also writes a blog with novelist Sara Gran. Abbott was a screenwriter for '' The Deuce'', an HBO show that premiered in 2017 and deals with pornography and the Mafia in New York in the 1970s and beyond. In 2019, she adapted her bestselling novel ''Dare Me'' into a

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

on USA Network. She served as co-showrunner on the series, along with

Gina Fattore Gina Fattore (born June 18, 1968, in Kankakee, Illinois, USA) is an American producer known for her creation of USA Network series ''Dare Me''. She was also a producer and writer for popular TV shows such as ''Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls,'' an ...

Influences

Abbott was influenced by

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

, classic

noir fiction Noir fiction (or roman noir) is a subgenre of crime fiction. Definition In its modern form, noir has come to denote a marked darkness in theme and subject matter, generally featuring a disturbing mixture of sex and violence and death in some ...

, and

Jeffrey Eugenides Jeffrey Kent Eugenides (born March 8, 1960) is an American novelist and short story writer. He has written numerous short stories and essays, as well as three novels: ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1993), ''Middlesex'' (2002), and'' The Marriage Plot'' ...

's novel ''

The Virgin Suicides ''The Virgin Suicides'' is a 1993 debut novel by the American author Jeffrey Eugenides. The fictional story, which is set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 1970s, centers on the lives of five doomed sisters, the Lisbon girls. The novel is wr ...

''. Two of her novels make reference to notorious crimes. ''The Song Is You'' (2007) is based around the disappearance of

Jean Spangler Jean Elizabeth Spangler (September 2, 1923 – disappeared October 7, 1949) was an American actress who appeared in bit parts in several Hollywood films in the late 1940s. She garnered public attention for her mysterious disappearance in la ...

in 1949, and ''Bury Me Deep'' (2009) on the 1931 case of

Winnie Ruth Judd Winnie Ruth Judd (January 29, 1905 – October 23, 1998), born Winnie Ruth McKinnell, also known as Marian Lane, was a medical secretary in Phoenix, Arizona, who was accused of murdering her friends, Agnes Anne LeRoi and Hedvig Samuelson, in Octo ...

, dubbed "the Trunk Murderess".

Reception and awards

Abbott has won the Mystery Writers of America's

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for outstanding fiction. ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' named her one of the "23 Authors That We Admire" in 2011. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' gave her 2011 novel ''The End of Everything'' a starred review.

Awards

Publications

As editor

*''A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir'' (2007).

Non-fiction

*''The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled fiction and Film Noir'' (2002).

Novels

*''Die a Little'' (2005). *''The Song Is You'' (2007). *''Queenpin'' (2007). *'' Bury Me Deep'' (2009). *''The End of Everything'' (2011). *'' Dare Me'' (2012). *'' The Fever'' (2014). *'' You Will Know Me'' (2016) ISBN 978-0316231077 *''

Give Me Your Hand "Give Me Your Hand" (Irish: ''Tabhair dom do Lámh'') is a tune from early 17th century Ireland by Rory Dall O'Cahan. It is one of the most widely recorded pieces of Irish traditional music. Composer According to Edward Bunting, in The Ancient ...

'' (2018). *''

The Turnout ''The Turnout'' is a mystery novel by Megan Abbott published August 3, 2021 by G.P. Putnam's Sons. That year, it won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. Plot ''The Turning Point'' follows twin sisters Dara and Marie Durant ...

'' (Summer 2021) ISBN 978-0593084908

Short stories

*"Oxford Girl" (2016). Appeared in ''Mississippi Noir''. *"Girlie Show" (2016). Appeared in ''In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper''. *"Little Men" (2015). Appeared in The Best American Mystery Stories 2016. *"My Heart Is Either Broken" (2013). Appeared in '' Dangerous Women''.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

Megan Abbott’s website
*
Short statement on why she thinks LA is so associated with noir.Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Megan 1971 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American literary critics American women literary critics American women novelists American crime fiction writers American mystery novelists American women screenwriters 21st-century American women writers Barry Award winners Edgar Award winners University of Michigan alumni Writers from Detroit Women mystery writers New York University alumni Novelists from Michigan American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American women critics