James Patterson

James Brendan Patterson was born on Mar. 22, 1947 in Newburgh, NJ. He studied English at Manhattan College and then Vanderbilt University, graduating from the latter with a Master's degree prior to completing his doctorate. Upon leaving school, Patterson entered the world of advertising, working as an executive for the firm J. Walter Thompson. All the while, Patterson found success as a novelist, publishing his first book, The Thomas Berryman Number (1976). He wrote five more novels over the course of the following 15 years, all prior to the inception of his smash hit Alex Cross series.

Beginning with the book Along Came a Spider (1993), the series followed Washington D.C.-based detective (and later FBI agent) Cross as he investigated high stakes mysteries. Patterson averaged a book a year in the Alex Cross series going forward, inspiring multiple film adaptations, beginning with "Kiss the Girls" (1997), starring Morgan Freeman. All the while. Patterson penned other series with co-authors like Andrew Gross, Maxine Paetro, and Michael Ledwidge, among others. Patterson and partners developed the Women's Murder Club series beginning with 1st to Die (2001), the Michael Bennett series starting with Step on a Crack (2007), and the Private series starting with Private (2010).