Thanks for your interest in my stories! I write mystery and suspense novels that include the Amazon #1 bestselling "Hanna and Alex" Low Country mystery series set in Charleston and Pawleys Island, South Carolina that now has ten novels, and the "Troubled Waters" series with stories set in a 1940's northern Michigan summer resort town and along the Gulf Coast of north Florida with my first three novels. I thought you might like to know a little about why I write the books I write and how my life experiences have influenced the stories I tell.From an early age, I found myself drawn to heroic and emotional stories played out on my family’s little black & white television set, the movie screen down at the town theatre and on the pages of the countless books I read throughout my early years. I often find that writers are compelled to write what they love to read. I've always been drawn to stories that are built around an idyllic time and place as much as the characters who grace these locations. As the heroes and villains come to life in my favorite stories, facing life's challenges of love and betrayal and great danger, I also enjoy coming to deeply understand the setting for the story and how it shapes the characters and the conflicts they face.I've also loved books built around a mix of past and present, allowing me to know a place and the people who live there in both a compelling historical context, as well as in present-day. I try to capture all of this in the books I write and the stories I bring to life.I spent much of my early life in a small northern Michigan lake resort town. I have wonderful memories of my time spent out at my great grandfather’s marina and boatyard on the lake. I remember the many wealthy “summer people” who came north each year for a few short months and their grand boats and homes that graced the lake. All of this was inspiration for my first two novels, THE EMMALEE AFFAIRS and THE SUMMER TOWN, set in this marvelous little town of Charlevoix and the stories of two ill-fated love affairs, generations apart, and the tragic and life-changing events they endured.Later in life, I worked and traveled and lived across our southern states and grew fond of the northern Gulf Coast of Florida, as well as the Low Country of South Carolina along the Atlantic coast, all blessed with magnificent beauty and fascinating history and culture.My third novel, BEND TO THE TEMPEST, is set in 1920’s era Atlanta and the remote village of Grayton Beach along the Gulf of Mexico near Destin. It tells the story of the fictional Coulter family who control the liquor trade in the South during this turbulent time, and their son, Mathew, who tries to escape the corruption of his family and finds himself caught up in the lives of a young mother and her daughter who face incredible challenges and who will change the course of his life forever.My time along the Carolina coast led me to write what is now an Amazon #1 bestselling mystery series. The “Hanna and Alex” Low Country mysteries feature attorney Hanna Walsh who runs a free legal clinic in Charleston, and Detective Alex Frank who comes to Hanna’s aid when she faces a grave family tragedy and great danger in the first book, LIES WE NEVER SEE. Their often-tenuous relationship continues in the subsequent books in the series as they find themselves in the cross-hairs of the dangerous forces of crime and corruption in the Low Country of South Carolina.After a long career in marketing, I am blessed now to be able to write full-time from my home in southern Florida, returning still in the summer months to the beautiful shores of Lake Charlevoix in northern Michigan. The sunrises and sunsets are still glorious and the lake as cold as ever!Thanks again for your interest in my stories!MichaelRead more about this authorRead less about this author