Sam Hawke

Sam Hawke is the author of the Poison War duology, City of Lies (2018) and Hollow Empire (2019), an urban fantasy murder mystery that she described as a homage to her two favorite genres: a closed-room mystery set inside a fantasy world. The books follow a poison-tester sworn to protect his city's ruler as he investigates a conspiracy of assassination and rebellion, deliberately working against familiar fantasy archetypes. City of Lies, her debut novel, tied for the 2018 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel and was longlisted for the BSFA Award; the series went on to win the 2019 Ditmar Award for Best Novel and the 2019 Norma K. Hemming Award.