I grew up across the street from a house where a young girl was murdered. That mystery, still unsolved to this day, drove me to work in the criminal justice system, first as a court investigator and later as a prison counselor.

In between those jobs, I worked as a college speech instructor, a freelance writer, a newspaper reporter and a high school teacher. I took time-out to travel overseas, hike the Grand Canyon several times and return to school to earn three master degrees.

The young girl’s death decades ago also prompted me to become a “paperback writer” of mysteries.

As an investigator for 15 years, I heard first-hand stories from men who committed crimes. Later, as a mental health therapist at a prison, I developed a keen ear for hard and realistic dialogue.   

​I wrote my first book Bricked after teaching in a school for at-risk students. Pat Riordan, the protagonist in my trilogy, was introduced in this novel.

While Bricked is fictional, the episodes and mannerisms of the characters personify life inside a school for disenfranchised youth. 

In the follow-up novels, The Slip Swing and The Cues, Riordan, the teacher, has also taken on the role of an amateur shamus.

The Slip Swing has a paranormal bent. The third book, The Cues, finds Riordan uncovering facts surrounding an unsolved murder and the whereabouts of local missing women.  

Each book is driven by hard dialogue, reflecting my years working in the criminal justice system and my experiences as a teacher.

​My intent was to provide a fresh twist for the reader of mysteries and for the detective in all of us. Visit my webpage to learn more about the Pat Riordan trilogy.