My favorite room in the house I grew up in was my parents' library, where the books ranged from Ancient Greek to modern farming techniques, and all of them were available to me and my brothers. As children we were allowed to read just about anything as long as it was well written and might teach us something.

Today I write crime fiction as well as reviews, essays, and articles on the genre and aspects of the writing life. My first series, the Mellingham series featuring Chief of Police Joe Silva, is set in coastal New England, and the Anita Ray series follows Indian American photographer Anita Ray in South India. I've published short stories in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine as well as anthologies and other journals.

In the past I co-founded The Larcom Press, which published The Larcom Review (now sadly gone) and a few mystery novels. After that came the co-founding of Level Best Books and more recently of Crime Spell Books, which publishes an annual anthology of crime fiction.

The fifth book in the Anita Ray series, "In Sita's Shadow," will appear in summer 2022.