Stranger With My Face (23 page)

Lois Duncan is the author of over fifty books, ranging from children’s picture books to poetry to adult non-fiction, but is best known for her young adult suspense novels, which have received Young Readers Awards in sixteen states and three foreign countries. In 1992, Lois was presented the Margaret A. Edwards Award by the
School Library Journal
and the ALA Young Adult Library Services Association for “a distinguished body of adolescent literature.” In 2009, she received the St. Katharine Drexel Award, given by the Catholic Library Association “to recognize an outstanding contribution by an individual to the growth of high school and young adult librarianship and literature.”

Lois was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Sarasota, Florida. She knew from early childhood that she wanted to be a writer. She submitted her first story to a magazine at age ten and became published at thirteen. Throughout her high school years she wrote regularly for young people’s publications, particularly Seventeen.

As an adult, Lois moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she taught magazine writing for the Journalism Department at the University of New Mexico and continued to write for magazines. Over three hundred of her articles and stories appeared in such publications as
Ladies’ Home Journal
,
Redbook
,
McCall’s
,
Good Housekeeping
, and
Reader’s Digest
, and for many years she was a contributing editor for
Woman’s Day
.

Six of her novels—
SUMMER OF FEAR
,
KILLING MR. GRIFFIN
,
GALLOWS HILL
,
RANSOM
,
DON’T LOOK BEHIND YOU
and
STRANGER WITH MY FACE
—were made-for-TV movies.
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER
and
HOTEL FOR DOGS
were box office hits.

Although young people are most familiar with Lois Duncan’s fictional suspense novels, adults may know her best as the author of
WHO KILLED MY DAUGHTER
?, the true story of the murder of Kaitlyn Arquette, the youngest of Lois’s children. Kait’s heartbreaking story has been featured on such TV shows as
Unsolved Mysteries
,
Good Morning America
,
Larry King Live
,
Sally Jessy Raphael
and
Inside Edition
. A full account of the family’s ongoing personal investigation of this still unsolved homicide can be found on the Internet at
http://kaitarquette.arquettes.com
.

Lois and her husband, Don Arquette, currently live in Sarasota, Florida. They are the parents of five children.

You can visit Lois at
http://loisduncan.arquettes.com
.

“There are a lot of smart authors, and a lot of authors who write reasonably well. Lois Duncan is smart, writes darn good
books and is
one of the most entertaining authors in America
.”

—Walter Dean Myers, Printz award–winning author of
Monster
and
Dope Sick

“She knows what you did last summer. And she knows how to find that secret evil in her characters’ hearts, evil she turns
into
throat-clutching suspense
in book after book. Does anyone write scarier books than Lois Duncan? I don’t think so.”

—R. L. Stine, author of
Goosebumps
and
Fear Street

“I couldn’t be more pleased that Lois Duncan’s books will now reach a new generation of readers.”

—Judy Blume, author of
Forever
and
Tiger Eyes

“Lois Duncan has always been one of my biggest inspirations. I gobbled up her novels in my teens, often reading them again
and again and scaring myself over and over. She’s a master of suspense, so
prepare to be dazzled
and spooked!”

—Sara Shepard, author of the Pretty Little Liars series

 “Lois Duncan’s books kept me up many a late night reading under the covers with a flashlight!”

—Wendy Mass, author of
A Mango-Shaped Space
,
Leap Day
and
Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall

“
Lois Duncan is the patron saint of all things awesome
.”

—Jenny Han, author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series

“Duncan is one of the smartest, funniest and most terrifying writers around—a writer that a generation of girls LOVED to tatters,
while learning to never read her books without another friend to scream with handy.”

—Lizzie Skurnick, author of
Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading

“In middle school and high school, I loved Lois Duncan’s novels. I still do. I particularly remember
Killing Mr. Griffin
, which took my breath away. I couldn’t quite believe a writer could DO that. I feel extremely grateful to Lois Duncan for
taking unprecedented risks, challenging preconceptions and changing the young adult field forever.”

—Erica S. Perl, author of
Vintage Veronica

“
Haunting and suspenseful
—Duncan’s writing captures everything fun about reading!”

—Suzanne Young, author of The Naughty List series and
A Need So Beautiful

“
Killing Mr. Griffin
taught me a lot about writing.
Thrilling stuff
. It was one of the most requested and enjoyed books I taught with my students. I think it’s influenced most of my writing
since.”

—Gail Giles, author of
Right Behind You
and
Shattering Glass

“If ever a writer’s work should be brought before each new generation of young readers, it is that of Lois Duncan. The grace
with which she has led her life—a life that included a tragedy that would have brought most of us to our knees—is reflected
in her writing, particularly (from my point of view) in
I Know What You Did Last Summer
. Her stories, like Lois herself, are ageless.” 

—Chris Crutcher, author of
Angry Management
,
Deadline
and
Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes

“Lois Duncan’s thrillers have a
timeless quality
about them. They are good stories, very well told, that also happen to illuminate both the heroic and dark parts of growing
up.”

—Marc Talbert, author of
Dead Birds Singing
,
A Sunburned Prayer
and
Heart of a Jaguar

DON’T LOOK BEHIND YOU

DOWN A DARK HALL

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER

KILLING MR. GRIFFIN

SUMMER OF FEAR