At one time or another I’ve found work as an industrial spy; a producer of concert videos for Rolling Stone’s greatest singer of all time; a rare male contributor to Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine; a writer of an appellate brief for those convicted in one of Detroit’s most sensational drug trials; the author of a true crime book that garnered a bigger advance than an all-time top-ten best-selling American novel; a project coordinator/fundraiser for a humanities council; a small business owner; the writer/producer/director of numerous long-form documentaries; a golf course clerk; a college instructor who taught courses in advanced composition, music and poetry appreciation, introduction to philosophy, remedial English, and American Literature—all in the same term; a ghostwriter; a maker of corporate/industrial videos; a member of a highway surveying crew; a speechwriter for auto executives; a TV producer of live event specials; an editorial writer; the creator of 15-second corporate promos for the PBS series Nature; and a novelist.

There is a sense in which that last occupation was the reason for all the others. Almost anyone who’s ever tried to make ends meet as a novelist knows what I’m talking about.

Now the more conventional bio…

I was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and grew up there after my first dozen years in Detroit. I attended Notre Dame and graduated with a B.A. and M.A from the University of Michigan. I’ve worked in both print and electronic journalism, as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction and as a producer of documentaries as well as entertainment and cultural specials. I’m the author of the true crime books Murder in the Synagogue (Prentice-Hall), on the assassination of Rabbi Morris Adler, and Squelched: The Suppression of Murder in the Synagogue. My novels include the coming-of-age story Sicilian Quilt, The romance When A Pretty Woman Smiles, and the crime thrillers The Car Bomb, Admission of Guilt, and Babytrick (The detroit im dyin Trilogy, and The Obsession and The Disappearance, the first two in the Truth Beauty Trilogy. Fourteen of my shorter works are available in the collection called Coming Up Short. These include the stories and essays I have published in various periodicals such as Commentary,, Ms. and The University Review, and the hard-cover collections Best Magazine Articles, The Norton Reader and The Third Coast.

I’ve operated my own TV and video production company and written, produced and directed more than 50 long-form documentaries, 75 shorter features and 30 live event programs. My syndicated documentary special “Hoffa: The True Story” appeared on 150 stations in this country and throughout Europe, and my work has been recognized with 22 Emmys from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a Gold Medal from the International Film and TV Festival of New York and numerous awards from the Associated Press and United Press International.