Christopher Rice's literary debut, A Density of Souls (2000), was overshadowed by derisive criticism and accusations of nepotism stemming from his family ties: his father is the artist, poet, and writing professor Stan Rice, and his mother is best-selling horror writer Anne Rice. However, by successfully incorporating complex social issues of homophobia, incest, and rape within the framework of an intriguing murder mystery, Rice has overcome skeptical reviewers and readers alike. In the process, he has earned a measure of literary respect and popular success on the basis of both A Density of Souls and its follow-up novel, The Snow Garden (2002).

Christopher Travis Rice was born on 11 March 1978 in Berkeley, California. He never knew his sister, Michele, who died of leukemia in 1972 at the age of six; and until Rice himself reached the age of six, his parents withheld information from him about Michele. Rice later remarked that he...