I hate talking (or writing) about myself, so I'll keep this short and sweet. I was born in Bellingham, Washington, attended school in the Meridian district and graduated Meridian High School in 1982. Prior to graduation I joined the Navy under the delayed enlistment program and shipped off to bootcamp in San Diego in October 1982. The next year and a half was spent at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, studing Russian, and in San Angelo, Texas, studying . . . well, other stuff. I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you.
A two-year tour in Rota, Spain followed, and I traveled extensively to locations like Morocco, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, France, Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles, Bahrain, Pakistan, Oman, Jordan, England, Scotland, the Canary Islands, Gibraltar, and a few other places. After that, it was off to Sinop, Turkey for a year.
I got out of the Navy in 1987, but soon found myself working as a civilian for the Office of Naval Intelligence where I was a project manager in the Foreign Materiél Exploitation Division. I attended and graduated the Naval War College and did a lot of interesting things during those years, but eventually found my way back to Bellingham. A couple years after returning, I joined the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office as their crime analyst . . . and the seeds for my future crime novels were planted.
Since Collecting the Dead was released, I get asked a lot if I'm going to quit the sheriff's office now that I'm a "successful author." After explaining the realities of being a successful author as opposed to the illusions, I tell people that, even if I was so successful that I didn't need the job, I'd probably stick around. After all, I get some of my best ideas and dialogue from the guys I work with. Besides, there are a couple of cold cases I'm not ready to walk away from.
In the meantime, I do what writers do: I write.
My opinion Just read Collecting the Dead. Author was referred to me. Interesting but somewhat on the fantasy side. Hero has paranormal powers. Not my cup of tea.
First book: Collecting the Gead.