Call me a lucky nomad. I’m originally from Northern California, but I’ve lived in cities as far flung as New York, Tokyo, and Seattle. My biggest regret? It’s hard to keep a library when you move so much.
My desire to write started in elementary school but my career began in earnest in Tokyo, where I landed a job with the Japanese edition of Reader’s Digest. As an editor, I had the privilege of working with former KGB agent Stanislav Levchenko on a book about his life as a spy.
Soon thereafter, an incredible story hit headlines: A woman in California had been kidnapped and held captive—most of the time in a box—for over seven years. It’s such a harrowing story that I felt compelled to fly home and cover the kidnapper’s trial. I later wrote PERFECT VICTIM in collaboration with the prosecutor. The book was put on the reading list for the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences Unit and became a #1 New York Times bestseller.
Do I have an abnormal interest in the nature of evil? Maybe so, because I next wrote about a Sacramento landlady who was secretly murdering her tenants and planting them in her yard. DISTURBED GROUND is the true story of Dorothea Puente’s astonishing life, crimes, and nine-murder-count trial.
During the years between writing true crime to writing fiction, I wrote long and short articles, worked for the San Jose Mercury News, and earned my Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at Goddard College in Vermont.
When I started writing THE EDGE OF NORMAL, I felt I’d come full circle, because my first true crime book provided the inspiration. The protagonist of my debut novel is a 22-year-old survivor of kidnapping and captivity. Reeve LeClaire (aka, Edgy Reggie) is flawed, persistent, and suffers from a hot sense of justice. She’s also the heroine of WHAT DOESN’T KILL HER, the sequel.
Check out the NEWS tab for the latest! I’m also working on a new novel, and I occasionally teach workshops or speak at conferences. I’ve penned a few short articles on the writing craft and on the criminal mind.
(If you’re interested, here’s the link to a piece I wrote for TheAtlantic.com: Can Psychopaths Be Rehabilitated?)
To schedule an interview, workshop, or book talk, please see the CONTACT page. Thank you!
