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Matt Witten

Biography

Matt Witten

Matt Witten is a TV writer, novelist, playwright and screenwriter who has written for many TV shows, including “House,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “Law & Order,” “Medium, “Supernatural” and “CSI: Miami.” His thriller novel, THE NECKLACE, is published in eight languages, is an Amazon Editors' Pick, and has been optioned for film by Leonardo DiCaprio. His novel KILLER STORY, about a true-crime podcaster, won a Foreword Indie Award for best mystery.

Matt wrote four amateur sleuth novels that were published by Signet, including the Malice Domestic Award-winning BREAKFAST AT MADELINE'S, and he has been nominated for two Edgars and an Emmy. His published stage plays include The Deal, Washington Square Moves and The Ties That Bind. He wrote the movie Drones, produced by Whitewater Films. His latest novel is the futuristic thriller, 51%. NBC hired Matt to cowrite a TV pilot based on 51%.

Matt and his wife, Nancy, used to live in Los Angeles until their house burned down in the Palisades Fire. The fire was somewhat serendipitous, because it inspired them to move to the shores of a beautiful lake in the Adirondacks in upstate New York, with many side trips to San Francisco, Boston, Iceland, Wales and elsewhere.

Matt Witten

Books by Matt Witten

51%
by Matt Witten - Dystopian, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Twenty years from now, the United States is completely privatized. The Big Six syndicates own schools, roads, police departments...even human beings. When a young immigrant woman --- 51% owned by the syndicates --- is brutally murdered, NYPD, Inc. Detective Juke O'Keefe and his partner, Crime Marketing Consultant Haylee Navarro, catch the case. Pregnant and broke, Haylee knows they can't crowdfund enough from a dead immigrant to pay for basic forensics, let alone their paychecks. But Juke, with his old-school sense of justice, is determined to find the killer. Their search for the truth leads them to Juke's ex, Safiya Jones, a Resistance leader on the syndicates' most wanted list. As the three join forces, they stumble onto a conspiracy designed to destroy the last shreds of American freedom.

Killer Story
by Matt Witten - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Talented and idealistic young reporter Petra Kovach is on the brink of being laid off from her third failing newspaper in a row. To save her job, she pitches the launch of a true crime podcast about a sensational, unsolved murder. Years earlier, an alt-right YouTuber was killed in her Harvard dorm room, and the case went cold. Petra knew the victim; she was once her camp counselor and loved her like a little sister, despite their political differences. Petra’s investigation gets off to a rocky start, as her promising leads quickly shrivel up. In her passionate quest for justice --- and clicks --- Petra burns sources and breaks laws, ultimately putting her own life on the line.

The Necklace
by Matt Witten - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Susan Lentigo’s daughter was murdered 20 years ago --- and now, at long last, this small-town waitress sets out on a road trip all the way from Upstate New York to North Dakota to witness the killer’s execution. On her journey she discovers shocking new evidence that leads her to suspect the condemned man is innocent --- and the real killer is still free. Even worse, her prime suspect has a young daughter who’s at terrible risk. With no money and no time to spare, Susan sets out to uncover the truth before an innocent man gets executed and another little girl is killed. But the FBI refuses to reopen the case. Reaching deep, Susan finds an inner strength she never knew she had.