I grew up outside Detroit, where I spent much of my time going to swim practices, swim meets, and generally lying around swimming pools. 

I discovered a taste for writing at my college newspaper, The Stanford Daily. I then went to law school, where I was the book review editor of the University of Michigan Law Review (a hi-falutin’ legal magazine of sorts). This could have been a tip-off that the writing thing was still nagging at me.

From there, it was off to practice law in the nation’s capital, until I finally cracked and took time off to try my hand at a book. A few people looked at me sideways, but I’m thrilled that Viking has published my debut mystery novel, The Morgue And Me.