David J. Bell is an American author and college professor whose most recent novel, Layover, was released from Berkley, a member of Penguin Group USA in 2019.
Bell began publishing stories in 2002, and they appeared in numerous journals including Cemetery Dance, Rain Crow, Black Petals, The Edge, Shadow Regions, Shock Totem, Western Humanities Review, and Backwards City Review. His first two novels—The Condemned and The Girl in the Woods —were released in hardcover and trade paperback by Delirium Books. Bell’s next novel, Cemetery Girl, was released by New American Library, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group in 2011. Publisher’s Weekly called Cemetery Girl "disquieting and suspenseful" and Suspense Magazine called it "brilliantly engaging, and a must-read for thriller fans." In 2013, Cemetery Girl was a finalist for the Kentucky Literary Award and won le Prix Polar International de Cognac. The novel also received the most write-in votes when the New York Times asked readers what book should have won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. The Hiding Place was released by New American Library in October 2012, Never Come Back followed in October 2013, The Forgotten Girl in October 2014, and Somebody I Used to Know in July 2015. In 2016, Bell began publishing his work with Berkley, another imprint of Penguin Publishing Group. Since She Went Away was the first book released by Berkley in June 2016. His novel Bring Her Home followed in July 2017, Somebody's Daughter in July 2018, and Layover in July 2019. Somebody's Daughter received a Library Journal starred review in 2018. Bell's novels have been translated into numerous languages and included on the USA Today, IndieBound, Amazon and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. He also wrote Rides a Stranger, a novella that was published by Mysterious Press in November 2013. Bell co-edited two anthologies of short fiction with Molly McCaffrey: Commutability: Stories about the Journey from Here to There and Stuck in the Middle: Writing That Holds You in Suspense, featuring work by a group of diverse writers including Ed Gorman, Thomas F. Monteleone, Faye Moskowitz, and Sandra Scofield with cover art by C. David Jones. Both anthologies were published by Main Street Rag publishing. In addition to his career as a novelist, Bell is a Professor of English and the Director of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing program at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He has previously taught at Miami University in Ohio and St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina.
