A native of San Diego, Andrew Peterson won his first pellet-gun shooting competition at a young age, launching an award-winning competitive career in marksmanship and eventually earning the classification of Master in the NRA's High Power Rifle ranking system. A trained architect, he began writing fiction in 1990 and sold his first short story, ?Mr. Haggarty's Stop, ? to San Diego Writers Monthly two years later. His debut novel, First to Kill, has allowed him the opportunity to visit veterans? hospitals around the country, and he has donated more than two thousand copies to wounded warriors and troops serving overseas. He and his wife, Carla, live in Monterey County, California.