Richard Newell Smith grew up in Marblehead, MA, graduated from Harvard and then worked for several years in marketing communications. Four years ago he jumped ship and began writing thriller novels. The Hitman's Lover and Grind His Bones are available now; Scavenging Ned Scully will be out this summer. Both The Hitman's Lover and Grind His Bones won awards at the 2012 Royal Palm Literary Awards of the Florida Writers Assn. All three novels are built around Jack Scully, a young "divorce and dog bite" lawyer who is dragged unwillingly into dealing with serious crime - cops working as hitmen, doctors trafficking in human organs, rich sociopaths buying their way out of trouble.Smith has lived in Colombia, Costa Rica and New Jersey. He now lives in Jupiter, FL, with his wife Myriam and their alpha-female chihuahua Evita.