<b>Arthur Kerns</b> now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona after spending most of his career in the Washington, DC area. Following graduation from college, he did a stint with the US Navy amphibious forces, and then joined the FBI with a career in counterintelligence and counterterrorism. Retiring from the FBI, he became a consultant with the Director of Central Intelligence and the Department of State. His lengthy assignments took him to over sixty-five countries. He attended Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware, earned a degree in International Relations from St. Joseph’s College in Philadelphia, and received an MBA from New York University. He spent a year studying Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. A past president of the Arizona chapter of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, he is married with two sons. His award-winning short stories have been published in a number of anthologies, most recently, <i>SoWest: Desert Justice</i>.<br/>Diversion Books published his debut novel, an espionage thriller, <i>The Riviera Contract</i>, in March 2013 and the sequel, <i>The African Contract</i>, in May 2014.