Melissa Larsen grew up in the Bay Area in a family of writers, believing she was the weird one for not writing. This didn’t last long. Her debut novel, Shutter, was published in June 2021 by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House. It has been featured in The New York Times Book Review and named a “Most Anticipated Novel” by PopSugar, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and CrimeReads. Melissa received her M.F.A. from Columbia University and her B.A. from New York University. When she isn’t traveling somewhere to research her next novel—and somehow hurting herself in the process—she lives in New York City and teaches creative writing. Her next novel, The Lost House, is set to be published by Minotaur, an imprint of Macmillan, in January 2025.