Tony Strong was born in Uganda in 1962 and was educated at Winchester College and St Peter's, Oxford, where he gained a First in English Literature. He abandoned a doctorate to go and work as a copywriter in an advertising agency. Over the next fifteen years he wrote many well-known commercials for clients as diverse as Guinness, Sainsbury's, The Samaritans, Walkers and Tetra Pak. He has also written headlines for The Economist's award-winning poster campaign.

In 1997 his first thriller, The Poison Tree, was published by Doubleday. This was followed by The Death Pit (1999), The Decoy (2001) and Tell Me Lies (2003).
He currently divides his time between London and Oxfordshire, writing novels and screenplays.

"Thrillers don't have to be dumbed down: they can be thought-provoking as well as page-turning. For me, the most important aspect of any story is the idea, the concept – making sure it's intriguing enough to sustain a reader's interest. In The Poison Tree, an academic who studies old-fashioned detective stories is suddenly caught up in the hunt for a very modern sex killer. In The Death Pit, an episode from Scotland's witch-burning past is mirrored by killings taking place in the present. In The Decoy, an actress has to pretend to fall in love with a suspected murderer. And in Tell Me Lies there's a simple ethical dilemma: should you lie in court to help the police convict a man you are convinced is guilty? I don't stick to one setting or character, because what interests me are the twists and turns that come out of these very different scenarios. Some people call them 'psychological thrillers', which is a catch-all term for stories that don't fit into any of the established crime genres. For me they're simply stories about ordinary people placed in extraordinary situations." - Tony Strong interviewed by Denise Mina at Dead on Deansgate 2001.