Michael J Malone was brought up in the heart of Burns' country in Ayrshire, Scotland. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines in the UK.

Blood Tears, his debut novel was the Pitlochry Prize (judge: Alex Gray). He has since gone on to publish a further 4 novels in the McBain and O'Neill series, 4 standalones including The Guillotine Choice, the bestselling A Suitable Lie and House of Spines - a non-fiction book about modern-day successful Scots: Carnegie's Call and the poetry collections, In The Raw and Running Threads.