Fiorella De Maria was born in Italy of Maltese parents. She grew up in England and attended Cambridge University, receiving a Bachelor's in English Literature and a Master's in Renaissance Literature. A winner of the National Book Prize of Malta, she has published nine novels with Ignatius Press, including This Thing of Darkness, Poor Banished Children, and Do No Harm. Among the other Father Gabriel mysteries are The Sleeping Witness, The Vanishing Woman, and See No Evil.