A. J. Finn is the pen name of Daniel Mallory. His first thriller, The Women in the Window (2018), was made into a film by Netflix in 2021. Finn notes that both books are influenced by classic film noir movies, such as Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Vertigo, which are also set in San Francisco.

Mallory was born in New York City in 1979. Before becoming a writer, Mallory studied at both Duke University and Oxford University and worked for major publishing houses, including William Morrow and Company and Little, Brown and Company.

In 2019, an article in The New Yorker accused Mallory of lying about his health and the deaths of family members to gain social advantages. Allegations were also made about plagiarism within The Woman in the Window. Mallory has defended himself from these allegations, citing his diagnosis of severe bipolar II disorder as causing him to make false statements. Mallory also stated that many thrillers hold similarities.