With the publication of The Hard to Catch Mercy, the Los Angeles Times compared William Baldwin to both Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison, and the New York Times declared the work to be "a fine send up of the Great Southern Novel." Baldwin is a lifelong resident of the South Carolina Lowcountry. He has authored and co-authored numerous works of fiction and non-fiction, including Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden, The Fennel Family Papers, Heaven is a Beautiful Place, Inland Passages and Mantelpieces of the Old South.

Pamela Scott is an independent architectural historian who specializes in the history of Washington's planning and built environment. She has taught the History of Washington Architecture at several universities and curated exhibits for the Library of Congress, National Building Museum, Capitol Historical Society, Historical Society of Washington, and Department of Interior Museum on topics from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries relating to Washington's history. Scott lectures frequently on many aspects of Washington's public buildings and their symbolism at scholarly meetings and at museums and historical societies. She has received fellowships from Winterthur Museum, the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, and the White House Historical Association/Organization of American Historians. Her awards include the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians Annual Article Award and Annual Essay Award and the R.R. Hawkins Award for Outstanding Professional, Reference, or Scholarly Work. Scott's books include exhibit catalogues ( "Temple"" of Liberty"), archival compilations (directories of District of Columbia architects and builders), guidebooks ( "Buildings of the District of Columbia"), and scholarly works ( "Designing the Nation's Capital, The 1901 Plan for Washington, D.C."). Her book on the U.S. Treasury Building's history is forthcoming.