Ridley Pearson was born in Glen Cove, New York on March 13, 1953. He was raised in Connecticut and attended Kansas University and Brown University. In the early 1970s, Pearson was a musician and songwriter for a rock band, eventually writing more than 300 songs and the score for an award-winning documentary. He is still musically active, playing bass for the "literary garage band", Rock Bottom Remainders. Having honed his craft writing scripts for television shows such as Columbo and Quincy, he turned to writing and published his first novel, Never Look Back, in 1985. Pearson received the Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellowship at Oxford University in 1991 and has since published a number of… novels, including The Angel Maker, No Witnesses and Beyond Recognition. These works are characterized by an attention to technical detail and forensic accuracy. He has also published many children's books, including The Kingdom Keepers series and a series of prequels to Peter Pan written with Dave Barry.