Tod Goldberg is an American author and journalist best known for his novels Gangster Nation, Gangsterland and Living Dead Girl, and the popular "Burn Notice" series and the short story collectionOther Resort Cities.
Goldberg's second novel, Living Dead Girl, was a finalist for the 2003 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for best mystery and was featured as one of January Magazine's top novels of 2002. His third book, Simplify, culled stories from the past decade of his career into one volume, the first published by OV Books, the book publishing arm of the literary journal Other Voices. It received notable reviews in numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post and Chicago Sun-Times and was named a 2006 finalist for the Southern California Booksellers Association Award in Fiction. His next book of short stories, Other Resort Cities, was released in October 2009 by OV Books to wide acclaim, including a positive review from the Los Angeles Times. He is also the author of original novels based on the USA Network TV series Burn Notice. The novels include The Fix, The End Game, The Giveaway, The Reformed, and The Bad Beat. In 2013, his essay "When They Let Them Bleed" was selected for Best American Essays, edited by Cheryl Strayed. Counterpoint released his most recent novel, "Gangsterland" in September, 2014. to rave reviews, earning starred notices in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus. The novel eventually was named a finalist for the Hammett Prize, recognizing the excellence in the field of crime writing. In 2005, he was named Teacher of the Year by the students at the UCLA Extension program, where he taught creative writing. He's the administrative director of the low residency MFA in creative writing program at University of California-Riverside's Palm Desert, California, campus. In early 2013, Goldberg, Rider Strong, and Julia Pistell started Literary Disco, a podcast about books and writing. In 2016, he collaborated with Brad Meltzer on the novel The House of Secrets, which was an instant New York Times bestseller. His next novel, Gangster Nation, was released in 2017, and continued the story of Sal Cupertine/Rabbi David Cohen from Gangsterland, picking up two years after the conclusion of Gangsterland. The book received glowing reviews in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Mystery Scene Magazine, the Orange County Register, and numerous other outlets. It was optioned, along with Gangsterland, by Caryn Mandabach Productions
Personal life
He is the brother of novelist Lee Goldberg and authors Linda Woods and Karen Dinino, as well as the nephew of true crime author and novelist Burl Barer. He lives in La Quinta, California with his wife, Wendy Duren, also a writer.
