Jeffery Deaver (born May 6, 1950) is an American mystery/crime writer. He has a bachelor of journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University and originally started working as a journalist. He later practiced law before embarking on a successful career as a best-selling novelist. He has been awarded the Steel Dagger and Short Story Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association and the Nero Wolfe Award, and he is a three-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Reader's Award for Best Short Story of the Year and a winner of the British Thumping Good Read Award.
He wrote the James Bond novel Carte Blanche in 2011. It is unknown why he didn't write a second novel, as he originally said he was open to it. He said he was first interested in writing after first reading From Russia, With Love (1957).