E. Michael Helms grew up on the coast of the Florida Panhandle, the setting for his Mac McClellan Mystery series. Turning down a baseball scholarship from the local junior college, he joined the Marine Corps after high school graduation. He served as a rifleman during some of the heaviest fighting of the Vietnam War. His tour ended when he was wounded three times in one day. Helms discounts it as "waking up on the wrong side of the foxhole." His memoir of the war, The Proud Bastards, has been called "As powerful and compelling a battlefield memoir as any ever written ... a modern military classic." It remains in print after twenty-six years. Helms is also the author of a two-volume Civil War/Reconstruction saga, Of Blood and Brothers; a literary novel tackling the painful issue of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among combat veterans, The Private War of Corporal Henson; and Deadly Catch, Deadly Ruse, and Deadly Dunes from his Mac McClellan Mystery series. He lives with his wife Karen near the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains in northwestern South Carolina. He enjoys playing guitar and all things outdoors. Helms continues to take dictation from Mac, Kate, and other characters who keep him busy. For more information, go to www.emichaelhelms.com.