Louis Bayard (born November 30, 1963) is an American author. His historical mysteries include The Pale Blue Eye, Mr. Timothy, The Black Tower, The School of Night, and Roosevelt's Beast,
His novel The Pale Blue Eye was adapted into a film of the same name, and released in January 2023.
Biography
Bayard was born on November 30, 1963, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and grew up in Northern Virginia. He graduated from Princeton University and received a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. He lives in Washington, D.C., and teaches
fiction writing at George Washington University.
He was a staffer at the U.S. House of Representatives, working for Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and as press secretary for then Representative Phil Sharp (D-Indiana).
Career
Bayard's first two novels,
Fool's Errand (1999) and
Endangered Species (2001), were romantic comedies with modern settings.
His third novel,
Mr. Timothy, published by HarperCollins, was a Victorian thriller featuring a grown-up Tiny Tim from
Dickens'
A Christmas Carol.
Bayard's novel was a
New York Times Notable book and was chosen one of the 10 best books of the year by
People magazine.
His 2006 novel
The Pale Blue Eye is a murder mystery set at
West Point in 1830, where the young Edgar Allan Poe was a
cadet. The book was nominated for an
Edgar Award (2007) and a Dagger. It was optioned for a film adaptation by writer-director Scott Cooper.
Bayard's fifth novel,
The Black Tower (Morrow), set in
Paris in 1818, follows the real-life detective Eugène François Vidocq as he investigates the mystery surrounding
Marie Antoinette's son.
His novel
The School of Night (2010) shuttles between modern-day Washington, D.C., and Elizabethan England, where a group of scholars including
Walter Ralegh, Christopher Marlowe, and the scientist
Thomas Harriot explore dangerous questions.
was published on March 18, 2014.
It tells of an action adventure involving Theodore Roosevelt and his son,
Kermit Roosevelt, through
Brazil's Da Dúvida River circa 1914.
Bayard has also written book reviews and essays for The Washington Post, The New York Times, Salon and Nerve. He has appeared at the National Book Festival, and he has written the New York Times recaps for Downton Abbey
Novels
External links
