Richard North Patterson has been a San Francisco trail lawyer and a partner in the firm of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Emerson. He is now a full-time writer. His first novel, The Lasko Tangent, won an Edgar Allan Poe award and his five books, Degree of Guilt, Eyes of a Child, The Final Judgement, Silent Witness and No Safe Place have been top five New York Times bestsellers.