James Nussbaumer wrote his first novel at age eleven and spent twenty-five years in the financial services industry. In 2007, faced with the pressures of an economy in freefall, he illegally withdrew $100,000 of clients' funds to try to recoup the value of their investments and rescue his floundering business. The strategy failed and landed him a jail sentence of 10 years. His time in prison resulted in his return to his first love, writing.