On a starry summer night in Hong Kong a beautiful woman celebrates her birthday by dying. On a rainy spring evening in London a young American is cut down in the street outside the U.S. Embassy. On a hot summer day near Washington, D.C., a senior CIA official vanishes into thin air.

Random, unrelated events?

Or pieces of the same puzzle?

Taylor Smith's much anticipated sixth novel Liar's Market was released in January 2004.

Taylor Smith's fifth novel, her first in hardcover, The Innocents Club was released in September 2000. In addition, its prequel, GUILT BY SILENCE, was reissued in June. Reaching back to revisit the characters from the earlier work provide Smith with the interesting opportunity to add new depth and background. Dh Audio has released audio versions of Random Acts, The Best of Enemies, Guilt by Silence and The Innocents Club.

Her fourth novel of intrigue, Random Acts, in which a rogue FBI agent commits the almost-perfect crime, was published in 1998. All of her works have been published by Mira Books.

Smith also wrote the 1997 thriller, The Best Of Enemies. The story of a New England college professor whose prize student is accused of terrorism, The Best of Enemies received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly, which praised its "sharp characterization" and "spellbinding tone." Smith's first novel, Guilt by Silence, was published in 1995 and features a female CIA analyst who unveils a sinister plot extending to the top ranks of the agency and the White House. Reviewers called the book "fast paced and gripping" and "a stunning debut." Her second novel, Common Passions, is the story of a television talk show host with a very personal interest in an old murder case. Publisher's Weekly called the story "absorbing," the characters "engaging."

Smith brings an unusual background to her fiction-writing career. A native of Canada she studied at universities there and in France, earned a master's degree in International Affairs, then spent twelve years working as a diplomat and Privy Council Officer. As a foreign service officer, she was a delegate to the United Nations, specializing in human rights issues. During a subsequent three-year posting to East Africa, she learned to speak Swahili, and scuba-dived with one of the resident CIA operatives. Her next headquarters assignment was the Eastern European desk, where she covered Soviet satellite nations and dodged surveillance during fact-finding trips to the area. Leaving the diplomatic service, Smith became a Privy Council advisor to the Prime Minister and Cabinet, where part of her duties included foreign intelligence liaison with the CIA and Britain's MI6.

She took up fiction writing in 1991 during a leave of absence from the Privy Council to spend more time with her daughters. After a move to southern California, she signed up for fiction writing and forensics classes, and also joined Sisters in Crime. She is the 1998 President of Fictionaires, one of southern California's oldest professional writers' groups, whose past and present roster includes Elizabeth George, T. Jefferson Parker, and Maxine O'Callaghan, as well as award-winning young adult author Neal Shusterman.

At the 1995 publication of her first novel, Smith resigned from the Privy Council to pursue full-time fiction writing.