Michael Sears spent over twenty years on Wall Street, rising to become a managing director for Paine Webber and Jefferies Financial before leaving the business in 2005 to pursue writing full-time. His books, a number of which are national bestsellers, have been nominated for--and received--numerous awards, including the Edgar. An avid sailor, he lives in Sea Cliff, New York, with his wife, poet and artist Barbara Segal, and the cat Penelope.