A native of San Diego, Andrew Peterson won his first pellet-gun shooting competition at a young age, launching an award-winning career in marksmanship where he earned the title of Master in the NRA's high-power rifle competition program. With an architectural degree from the University of Oklahoma, he began writing fiction as a hobby in 1990 and sold his first short story, “Mr. Haggarty’s Stop,” to San Diego Writers Monthly two years later. In 2008, the launch of his debut novel, First to Kill, allowed him the opportunity to visit VA hospitals around the country, and he's donated more than three thousand copies to wounded warriors and troops serving overseas. He and his wife, Carla, live in Monterey County, California.