Lawrence De Maria, who began his career as a general interest reporter for the Staten Island Advance (winning an Associated Press award for his crime reporting, the paper's first), eventually became a senior editor and writer at The NewYork Times, where he wrote hundreds of stories and features, often on Page1. He headed the Times's Pulitzer Prize-nominated coverage during the1987 stock market crash. After he left the Times, De Maria became an Executive Director at Forbes. Following a series of private industry positions, he returned to journalism as managing editor and editorial writer for the weekly Naples Sun Times in Florida. Recently, he has been extensively profiled by Vanity Fair, Business Week, Fox Business News and other national media outlets for his role in uncovering the alleged $7 billion Allen Stanford Ponzi scheme, an experience that started him on the road to writing his first novel, Sound of Blood. It is the first of a series of Jake Scarne thrillers. De Maria is a reviewer and board member at the Washington Independent Review of Books. His author website is www.lawrencedemaria.com. His book reviews are available at www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com