Martin Steyn began writing Stephen King-inspired horror stories in his teens. Given his interest in the darker recesses of human beings, it was probably unavoidable that he would become fascinated by serial killers. After obtaining degrees in Psychology and Criminology, he studied serial killers and profiling. He also wrote seven true crime articles for the Crime Library website.

But the dream was always to write fiction, particularly realistic crime fiction. This led to much research into the South African Police Service and its forensic units. In 2014 Donker Spoor was published by LAPA Uitgewers, and was awarded the ATKV-Woordveertjie for Suspense Fiction the following year. In 2017 it will be published in English as Dark Traces. Steyn is the translator for Dark Traces.

Steyn prefers to tell the story through the eyes of the detective, that individual with the extraordinary task of finding justice for those whose final chapter ends up being written in a murder docket.