ROBERT LAUTNER was born in Middlesex in 1970. Before becoming a writer he owned his own comic-book store, worked as a wine merchant, photographic consultant and recruitment consultant. He now lives on the Pembrokeshire coast in a wooden cabin with his wife and children. He is the author of The Road to Reckoning, which was a Simon Mayo Book Club choice, and The Draughtsman, which was longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Quint is his third novel.