James Patterson was born in Newburgh, New York, on March 22, 1947. He graduated from Manhattan College in 1969 and received a M. A. from Vanderbilt University in 1970. His first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, was written while he was working in a mental institution and was rejected by 26 publishers before being published and winning the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery. He is best known as the creator of Alex Cross, the police psychologist hero of such novels as Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. Cross has been portrayed on the silver screen by Morgan Freeman. He also writes the Women's Murder Club series, the Maximum Ride series, Daniel X series, the Witch and Wizard series, and… the Middle School series for children. He has won numerous awards including the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader's Digest Reader's Choice Award.David Ellis is an American attorney and award winning author. He prosecuted and convicted Governor Rod Blagojevich in the Impeachment trial before the Illinois Senate. He currently serves as Special Counsel to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, and has argued dozens of cases at the trial and appellate levels, specializing in constitutional law. Ellis won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel for Line of Vision. His other standalone novels include: Life Sentence, Jury of One, In the Company of Liars, and Eye of the Beholder. In 2009, The Hidden Man introduced his protagonist, Jason Kolarich, and was nominated for the L.A. Times Book Prize and Barry Award. The second Jason Kolarich novel, Breach of Trust, was based, in part, on the scandal involving impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich. Other titles in the series include: The Wrong Man and The Last Alibi. Guilty Wives was the first book he co-wrote with bestselling author James Patterson. It was followed by Mistress, Invisible and The Murder House.