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Author Description I was a Navy brat, the oldest of four kids. My dad served as a captain in the US Navy, so our family moved around a lot—North Carolina, Rhode Island, Virginia. When my dad finally took a post at the Pentagon for the remainder of his career, we landed for good in Falls Church, Virginia.<br /><br />After a high-school education under the not-so-gentle tutelage of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, I embarked for college one step ahead of a serious run-in with the Falls Church police—eventually completing my undergraduate education at Duke University and USC with a degree in physics. Following a stint as a systems engineer in the Southern California aerospace industry, I headed back to UCLA for graduate work, earning a DDS degree four years later. I passed the California Dental Board exam that summer and prepared to begin a new career.<br /><br />At that point I think I had my first identity crisis. I liked school. Beat work. Plus it allowed me to put off deciding what I wanted to do with my life when I grew up. I had never really thought about the future much. I had just gone from day to day, surmounting one hurdle at a time. Now that I was finished with school, was this going to be it? Work?<br /><br />Not that I don’t like work. I held down part-time jobs during most of my college years— retail sales in a bookstore, swing shift on a loading dock, nights as a bartender. Like that.<br /><br />In retrospect, I think those jobs were as influential as my formal education in shaping who I am. I recall little of my advanced math courses (and by little I mean zero), and I haven’t practiced dentistry in years, but I do remember things I picked up working various jobs, things I have been able to use in my writing.<br /><br />Anyway, I opened a dental office on the Westside of town and began my life as an adult. But not without a struggle. During the years I practiced dentistry in Brentwood (right down the street from where O.J. Simpson didn’t kill Nicole), I got my Screen Actors Guild card and “acted” in TV commercials, shamelessly promoting everything from luggage to beer. I also modeled in a worldwide print campaign for Camel cigarettes before “Joe Camel,” the famous R.J. Reynolds cartoon that more effectively targeted kids, took over the cigarette advertising reins. That job was fun. Except for the smoking.<br /><br />And I wrote fiction. Lots of fiction. All kinds of fiction. Mostly short stories, but some longer pieces, too. Some even got published.<br /><br />Upon retiring from dentistry in my mid-thirties, I spent a decade as a real-estate developer specializing in beachfront construction in Malibu. Homes for the stars. More recently I’ve served as executive director for an Idaho nonprofit that promotes classical music concerts and presents various educational programs. And I continue to write.<br /><br />Okay, seems like a lot of careers for one guy, right? I agree. Bottom line, I guess I was always ready to take a chance on something new, which led me down a lot of unexpected paths. But one constant remained throughout, something that gave me a way to use all my experiences, both good and bad. Writing.<br /><br />And in the end, that’s what I finally decided I wanted to do, even if I were to ever grow up . . . someday. I think it’s what I do best.<br /><br />My first full novel, titled A Song for the Asking, was published to both critical and reader acclaim by Bantam Books. The book was inspired by the question: “Can a homicide detective who deals with the worst of human nature go home to a normal family life?” In doing the research for my fictional lead character, LAPD Detective Daniel Kane, I met some fascinating people, learned some unexpected things, and made some lifelong friends.<br /><br />IMG_0206Since then I have continued the “Kane Novel” series, following with bestsellers Kane, a thriller, and Allison, a suspense tale told from the perspective of Kane’s only daughter, Allison. A fourth in the series, titled L.A. Sniper, is scheduled for release in 2014. Glow, a standalone novel that chronicles the e

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