Tony Black was born in Newcastle, Australia, and raised by Scottish parents in Scotland and Ireland. Much of his work is in the tartan noir crime genre, featuring series characters Gus Dury, Rob Brennan and Doug Michie. He has been nominated for eight CWA Daggers and was runner up in The Guardian's Not the Booker prize for The Last Tiger. His novella, The Ringer, was adapted for the stage. Irvine Welsh has called Black his "favourite British crime writer."