New York native Michael Leccese spent two years in North Carolina before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1977 and, then Boulder, Colorado, in 1993. He’s worked as a journalist, editor, flak, and nonprofit executive. Nonfiction books include Short Bikes Ride In and Around Washington, D.C. (Globe-Pequot Press, 1988), which made the Washington Post’s bestseller list tucked between Bill Cosby and Richard Feynman. As a freelance writer, he’s published in the Washington Post, New York Times, Historic Preservation magazine and, once, a pet column on ferrets in USA Weekend. This is his first novel.