Stephen Amidon is an accomplished American author, best known for his mystery novels. Born in 1959 in Chicago, Amidon grew up on the East Coast of the United States, including a period in Columbia, Maryland, which would later serve as the inspiration for his fourth novel, "The New City." He attended Wake Forest University as a Guy T. Carswell Scholar, majoring in philosophy. In 1987, Amidon moved to London, UK, where he began his career as a critic with Auberon Waugh at The Literary Review and soon after sold his first work of fiction.
Amidon's literary criticism and essays have been featured in numerous publications in North America and the UK, and he has also worked as a film critic for the Financial Times and the Sunday Times. He is the author of a collection of short stories and six novels, including "Security," "Human Capital," and "Locust Lane." His fiction has been published in fifteen countries and has been well-received by critics. "Human Capital" was chosen by Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post as one of the five best works of fiction of 2004, and a film adaptation of the novel is currently in pre-production in Italy. Amidon has also written two non-fiction books, "The Sublime Engine" with his brother Tom, and "Something Like the Gods," dedicated to his son, Alexander.