Thierry Jonquet was born in Paris in 1954. An exponent of the hardboiled style of French noir influenced by post-May 1968 politics, Jonquet is one of France's best-known crime writers. Tarantula was published as Mygale by Gallimard in 1999 and by City Lights Publishers in the US in 2002. He died in Paris, August 9, 2009.