Mark Pryor (born May 8, 1967) is a British-American mystery writer and criminal defense attorney for Cofer and Connelly. He is best known for his mystery novels featuring Hugo Marston, a former FBI agent from Texas, and now head of security at the U.S. Embassy in Paris. Pryor is also the author of the nonfiction book, As She Lay Sleeping, based on the 1985 cold case murder of Natalie Antonetti (the mother of Johnny Goudie) that he successfully prosecuted in 2011. He has appeared on CBS News' "48 Hours" and Discovery Channel's "Discovery ID: Cold Blood" discussing the case. He is also the creator of the true-crime blog D.A. Confidential.
Pryor grew up in Hertfordshire, England. He earned a journalism degree and became a police reporter for a paper in Colchester, Essex. In 1994, he moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where his mother is from and returned to school. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill journalism school in 1999 and a Juris Doctor degree from Duke University in 2002. After graduating, he moved to Dallas, Texas to practice civil law. In 2006, he moved to Austin, Texas to accept a position with the Travis County District AttorneyâÂÂs Office. He currently resides in Austin with his wife and three children.