About the Author I've always been a writer. My first mystery teamed up a dog and bunny on a search for the bunny's stolen bicycle. It featured fiery dialogue like: "I think there's a bomb, Tom!" The bunny exploded. Pretty good for an eight year old, eh? I guess I was more influenced by Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys than I realized. I graduated directly from reading about Tom and the brothers to Ross MacDonald's Lew Archer and John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee. That decided my career path. I was either (a) going to become a boat bum with a "deepwater tan" and lots of babes or (b) a private-eye in LA., working for rich, dysfunctional families. Sans babes, of course. Lew wasn't really a babe magnet. I destroyed my self-image, but enriched my bank account, by getting a real job as a TV news photographer when I was eighteen and just starting college. Fires, car crashes, murders followed. Did that a few years, went on to become a deputy sheriff for awhile and ultimately drifted back to broadcasting. Worked in Kansas City, moved to the ultimate crime reporting gig of all time at WMAQ in Chicago and then to WGN, still chasing fires, car crashes and murders. Consistency is the key. Through it all, I kept reading. And writing. My only significant downtime came when my writing instructor in college had a heart attack and died the day after predicting, "You will become a published author some day!" It threw me for months. I kept thinking, "So did God punish him because he lied?" I guess not. Read an article about Doug in the Winter 2007/2008 edition of Sheridan Road magazine: (click on the images below to see the PDF of that page; photo above left by Jon Cancelino for Sheridan Road magazine.) Want more factual info? Check out Doug's official bio here.