After stints as a manual laborer, dishwasher, bartender, restaurant manager, commercial photographer, magazine editor and public relations executive, Michael W. Sherer decided life should imitate art and became a freelance writer and author.

Mike is a member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. Night Blind, his first Blake Sanders thriller, was nominated for a Thriller Award by International Thriller Writers in 2013, and he’s published three more books in the series. In addition to his latest novel Blind Rage, the first book in the Tess Barrett YA/NA thriller series, he’s published six novels in the Chicago-based Emerson Ward mystery series and a stand-alone suspense novel, Island Life. He’s now working on a new stand-alone thriller in addition to another in the Tess Barrett series.

Mike grew up on a farm in northern Illinois, went to school “back east,” and lived in Chicago for 20 years. In addition to writing mysteries and thrillers, he’s been a freelance writer and marketing communications consultant specializing in food and beverage (because he loves to eat). He’s written hundreds of articles on food, beverages and foodservice equipment for a wide range of trade magazines, and he also was a certified food safety instructor.

He and his family now live near Seattle. To find out more, please visit him on Facebook (facebook.com/thrillerauthor) or Twitter (@MysteryNovelist).