I spent the happiest five years of my life in a morgue. Strange, perhaps, but true. After ten
years as a secretary, I went back to school to get a Bachelor's degree in Biology from
Cleveland State University. In my job as a forensic scientist at the Cuyahoga County
Coroner's Office, I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass,
DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes.

I had my life sorted out just the way I liked it until my husband got fed up with Cleveland
snow and moved us to Florida, 1400 miles away from my family and my career. Not that I'm
bitter or anything. Now I work as a latent print examiner for the city of Cape Coral, Florida,
police department, working mostly with fingerprints and crime scenes.

I've lectured at writer's conventions and appeared on panels. In my life as a writer I'm a
member of Sisters In Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers.
In the other half of my double life, as a forensic specialist, I'm a member of the American
Academy of Forensic Scientists, the International Association for Identification, the
International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts and am certified by the American
Board of Criminalistics. I have had over 721 hours of instruction in forensic topics and have
testified in court over 50 times, none of which you really care about unless you're interviewing
me for a job.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR