Malla Nunn is an Australian author, screenwriter and director. Her latest book is Let the Dead Lie, the second Detective Emmanuel Cooper novel. Originally from Swaziland, she emigrated to Perth with her parents in the 1970s. Her twin passions are English and History and she spent some time in America working in theatre and film. She's written and directed a number of short films, including 'Servant of the Ancestors', which has won awards and been shown at film festivals all over the world. Her first novel was A Beautiful Place to Die, which was also the first in her Emmanuel Cooper series. The series is set in South Africa during the apartheid era and has scored her a Sisters in Crime Award for Best Adult Crime Novel and a nomination in the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Awards.