Bio Sketch
A writer of mysteries, thrillers, westerns, poetry, and nonfiction books, Russ Hall has had more than two dozen books published, most in hardback and subsequently published in mass market paperback by Harlequin’s Worldwide Mystery imprint and Leisure Books—including: The Blue-Eyed Indian, Wildcat Did Growl, Island, No Murder Before its Time, Goodbye She Lied, Bent Red Moon, Bullets in the Wind, Talon’s Grip, Inside Jupiter Bones of the Rain, South Austin Vampire, To Hell and Gone in Texas, and Three-Legged Horse. He has also co-authored (as well as ghost written) numerous non-fiction books, most recently Do You Matter?: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company (Financial Times Press, 2009) with Richard Brunner, former head of design at Apple, Now You’re Thinking (Financial Times Press, 2011), and Identity (Financial Times Press, 2012)with Stedman Graham, Oprah’s companion. Identity was on the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times bestseller lists.
He moved to the Austin area from New York City and is now focusing on writing, fishing, and hiking after having been in publishing for over thirty-five years, with major companies ranging from Harper & Row to Simon & Schuster to Pearson.
He has a graduate degree in creative writing and makes frequent public speaking and book-signing appearances, gives writing workshops, and is a frequent mentor and judge for writing organizations. He is a long-time member of the Mystery Writers of America, Western Writers of America, and Sisters in Crime.
In 1996 he won the Nancy Pickard Mystery Fiction Award for short fiction.
In 2011 he was awarded Sage Award, by The Barbara Burnett Smith Mentoring Authors Foundation—an award for the mentoring author who demonstrates an outstanding spirit of service in mentoring, sharing and leading others in the mystery writing community.
In 2014 he won First Place in the Austin International Poetry Festival. He has had two books of poetry published, Into Shadows of a Woods and Brick Lites in a Candle-Room, and has an upcoming Bucket List poetry book in the works.
In 2015 the Writers’ League of Texas awarded To Hell and Gone in Texas its “Fiction Discovery Prize.”