About Neil

I've been at this writing thing a long time-- I first began writing stories when I was about sixteen. My 10th-grade English teacher, Mr. Norman Haider, assigned us the task of rewriting A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, from the point of view of Finny, the second character. Our teacher, Mr. Hayder, assigned us to "rewrite" the book from Finny's point of view. Not only was this a great lesson in POV, it made a great emotional connection to me, and I began writing seriously after that. A community college course in creative writing followed, and by then the bug had bitten.

I was inspired, and began writing short stories a while later. I took creative writing classes at the University of Pennsylvania, but nothing was published, even in the college literary magazine.

After I graduated from business school in 1983, I bought a Commodore 64 computer for its word-processing capabilities, and entered the computer generation. But still, nothing was worth publishing, though I was sending stuff out all the time. My best result was a story called "Trenton Makes," which was named one of the top 50 stories in a Redbook magazine fiction contest. It's a sweet story, never published anywhere, about a recent college graduate who meets a girl at his cousin's bar mitzvah.

My writing career took a back seat then, as I went on to get an MBA from Columbia University and embark on a business career. I kept writing and submitting novels and stories, and my first real publication was a piece of erotic fiction called "The Cop Who Caught Me," published by Honcho magazine. I've been writing about gay men and cops ever since!

My first published novel was Mahu, about a gay homicide detective who's dragged out of the closet while investigating a dangerous case. I'm grateful to Greg Herren, who accepted the book on behalf of Haworth Press and their Harrington Park Press imprint. Mahu went on to be reprinted by two more presses, Alyson Books and MLR Press, and now I publish it, and the rest of the series, myself. I have gone on to write and publish in a variety of genres, including cozy mystery, gay mystery, adventure, thriller, private eye, and gay romance and erotica. You can find information on all the books from the tabs on the home page.


Finalists for the 2009 Flamango award at Sleuthfest: Brad Meltzer, Josh Getzler, Jim Born (the winner), John Hart and me

I am a native of Yardley, Pennsylvania, and felt the call of the tropics drawing me to Hollywood, Florida, where I now reside with my husband and our golden retrievers. That love of tropical latitudes has also nurtured an abiding interest in Hawaii, as well as in what Graham Greene called "shady characters in sunny places."


Here I am at the CN Tower in Toronto, when I visited there for Bloody Words.

My fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including VerbsapBlithe House Quarterly and In The Family, as well as winning first prize in a South Florida magazine contest. I am a professor of English at Broward College and the proud papa of a pair of white golden retrievers, Brody and Griffin.

Dinner Guys
Tom Corcoran, John Hart, me, Jim Born and Jim Swain at dinner on Lincoln Road after the Miami Book Fair, 2008.

I have published a wide range of fiction and non-fiction in mainstream and GLBT publications, both in print and on line. My work has been anthologized in many erotica anthologies.

Bouchercon 2006 kukui nut
The GLBT Panel at Bouchercon 2006. Anthony Bidulka, Alex Brett, me, Caro Soles and Mark Richard Zubro. My panel outfit: a Mahu shirt and a kukui nut lei.
Photos by Lori L. Lake

Scottsdale Gun Club
At the Scottsdale Gun Club during ThrillerFest, with a bunch of great writers and cool people (photo by Zoe Sharp).

I am a past president of the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America as well as a member of that organization's national board, and in addition to my BA and MBA, I hold an MFA from Florida International University.

Books and Books
At my first reading at Books and Books on Miami Beach; the paintings behind me are by Hannah Lasky

Feel free to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. me for more information about any of my books.