Harri Nykänen was born in Helsinki and worked as a criminal journalist on Helsingin Sanomat from 1981 to 2001. His first book was published in 1986. He now writes a series of thrillers featuring the Jewish-Finnish detective Ariel Kafka.

Adam LeBor is a veteran former foreign correspondent for The Economist, The Times and the Independent. He is the author of fourteen works of fiction and non-fiction, including City of Oranges, about the lives of Arab and Jewish families in Jaffa, which was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize. He is an editorial trainer at the Financial Times, Monocle and Citywire and is also a creative writing tutor at the Arvon Foundation.