Maxim Jakubowski was born in England to Russian-British and Polish parents, but was raised in France. He worked in book publishing for many years, having created both the Black Box and Blue Murder classic noir lines. After this, he opened the Murder One bookshop, the UK's first specialist crime and mystery bookstore. He is also a well-known critic, reviewer and anthologist, as well as past Chair of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and now Chair for the Crime Writers' Association. In 1992 he won the Anthony Award for best non fiction book of the year for One Hundred Great Detectives. Jakubowski has been publishing his erotic fiction since 1997, and is thus far the author of ten novels under his own name, and six short story collections, plus numerous pseudonymous works.