Elle Cosimano grew up in the Washington, DC suburbs, the daughter of a maximum security prison warden and an elementary school teacher who rode a Harley. She spent summers working on a fishing boat in the Chesapeake Bay, baiting hooks, scrubbing decks, and lugging buckets of chum. A failed student of the hard sciences, she discovered her true calling in social and behavioral studies while majoring in psychology at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Fifteen years later, Elle set aside a successful real-estate career to pursue writing. She lives with her husband and two sons in Northern Virginia and Mexico.Elle's debut thriller NEARLY GONE was a 2015 Edgar Award Finalist, a 2015 International Thriller Award Finalist, and winner of the 2015 Mathical Book Award in the Young Adult category. It was also named a 2015 Georgia Peach Book Award Finalist, a 2015 Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Book Award Finalist, and was awarded a starred designation as a 2015 Kansas Reading Circle selection. Elle is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters In Crime. She was selected for the 2012 Nevada SCBWI Agented & Published Authors' Mentorship Program, where she worked under the guidance of Ellen Hopkins. She attended the Writers' Police Academy at Guilford Technical Community College, Department of Public Safety, to conduct hands-on research for her books. You can learn more about Elle at her website: www.ElleCosimano.com.Photo courtesy of Powell Woulfe Photography