The Denver Assassins Club has one rule: Step out of line and you become the next target.

Jim Heskett writes stories about outsiders who fight crime.

The author was born in the wilds of Oklahoma, raised by a pack of wolves with a station wagon and a membership card to the local public swimming pool. Just like the man in the John Denver song, he moved to Colorado in the summer of his 27th year. He's never looked back. Aside from a wild year traveling the world, he hasn't let the Flatirons mountains out of his sight.

Jim fell in love with writing at the age of fourteen inside a copy of Stephen King's Carrie. Poetry provided his first outlet for teen angst, then later a smattering of mediocre screenplays, and eventually crime thriller fiction a la Elmore Leonard. In between, he worked a few careers that never quite tickled his creative toes.

He hasn't ever forgotten about Stephen King.

You can find him currently huddled over a laptop in an undisclosed location in Colorado, dreaming up ways to kill beloved characters.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, he believes the huckle is the king of berries and he refuses to entertain any arguments to the contrary.

He writes award-winning crime thrillers seasoned with a dash of snark. Sometimes he writes these books with co-authors like Nick Thacker.