Karin Slaughter (born January 6, 1971) is an American crime writer. She has written 24 novels, which have sold more than 40 million copies and have been published in 120 countries. Her first novel, Blindsighted (2001), was published in 27 languages and made the Crime Writers' Association's Dagger Award shortlist for "Best Thriller Debut" of 2001. Slaughter won the 2015 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award for her novel Cop Town. Her 2018 novel, Pieces of Her, was adapted into an eight-episode television series of the same name, released in March 2022 on Netflix.

Early life

Slaughter was born in Covington, Georgia and grew up in Lake Spivey. She has two older sisters. She attended Morrow High School in Ellenwood, Georgia. She then studied literature at Georgia State University, but dropped out prior to graduating. She wrote her first novel Blindsighted in three months.

Philanthropy

Slaughter is a library advocate and founded Save the Libraries, a non-profit organization that campaigns to support US public libraries. The Save the Libraries fund has provided more than $300,000 to the DeKalb County Public Library in Atlanta, Georgia.

Publishing history

Characters from Slaughter's two main series, Grant County and Will Trent (Atlanta), were brought together in her novels Undone (2009), titled Genesis internationally, and Broken (2010). In these novels, Sara Linton and Will Trent work cases set in Grant County and Atlanta, respectively.

Grant County series (2001 to 2007)

Slaughter is best known for her Grant County series: Set in the fictional town of Heartsdale, Georgia (in the fictional Grant County), the narrative takes place from the perspective of three main characters: Sara Linton, the town's pediatrician and part-time coroner; Jeffrey Tolliver, Linton's husband and the chief of police; and his subordinate, detective Lena Adams.

Will Trent (Atlanta) series

The Will Trent series, which takes place in Atlanta, Georgia, features Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent Will Trent and his partner Faith Mitchell. So far, Trent has appeared in Triptych, Fractured, Undone, Broken, Fallen, Criminal, Unseen, The Kept Woman, The Last Widow, The Silent Wife, After That Night, and This is Why We Lied, as well as the novellas Snatched, Busted, and Cleaning the Gold. ABC ordered a pilot episode starring Ramón Rodríguez as Trent and Erika Christensen as Angie, his girlfriend. The series premiered on January 3, 2023, and ABC has renewed the series for a third season.

Other works

“Like a Charm” is a short story anthology featuring several thriller authors, including Lee Child, Peter Robinson (novelist), John Connolly (author), and Laura Lippman. Each story is linked by a charm bracelet that brings bad luck to its owners. The setting and time periods of each story vary greatly, ranging from 19th-century Georgia to wartime Leeds. Karin Slaughter wrote the first and last stories. Martin Misunderstood is an original audio novella narrated by Wayne Knight. Both the story and the narration were nominated for an Audie Award in 2009. The Unremarkable Heart won the Edgar Award for Best Short Story in 2013. Her book Pieces of Her reached number 2 on the New York Times Bestseller list, the week it was released in late August 2018. Pieces of Her was published through HarperCollins and follows a young woman who learns about a hidden side of her mother, Laura. It is in the vein of a psychological thriller and was given a positive review by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. Her other standalone novels—Cop Town, Pretty Girls, The Good Daughter, and False Witness—have all been New York Times bestsellers. In February 2019, it was announced that Netflix will be developing an 8-episode television series starring Toni Collette, based on the Pieces of Her novel.

Personal life

Slaughter was a contestant on an installment of ABC's Holey Moley which originally aired on June 4, 2020.

Awards

Slaughter has won or been nominated for many awards. In reverse chronological order, they are: