As a journalist, Christina Hoag had her laptop searched by Colombian guerrillas and phone tapped in Venezuela, was suspected of drug trafficking in Guyana, hid under a car to evade Guatemalan soldiers, and posed as a nun to get inside a Caracas jail. She's interviewed gang members, bank robbers, gunmen, thieves and thugs in prisons, shantytowns and slums, not to forget billionaires and presidents, some of whom fall into the previous categories. Now she writes about such characters in her fiction.

Her noir crime novel "Skin of Tattoos" was a finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award for suspense, while her thriller "Girl on the Brink" was named to Suspense Magazine's Best of 2016 YA list. She also co-authored "Peace in the Hood: Working with Gang Members to End the Violence," a groundbreaking book on violence intervention used in several universities.

Born in New Zealand, Christina grew up as an expat around the world. She resides in Los Angeles and teaches creative writing at a maximum-security prison. She has also mentored at-risk teen girls in creative writing in South and East Los Angeles. She has been a speaker at numerous writers' conferences and groups, bookstores, and libraries. Find her on the web at www.christinahoag.com; https://facebook.com/ChristinaHoagAuthor
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