Jack Batten, after a brief and unhappy career as a lawyer, has been a very happy freelance writer for many years. The author of thirty-five books, Batten writes the weekly Whodunnit column in the Toronto Star, has reviewed jazz for the Globe and Mail, and has reviewed movies on CBC Radio for twenty-five years. Not surprisingly, jazz, movies, and crime turn up frequently in Crang's life. He lives in Toronto.