author : John D. PattenJohn D. Patten occasionally skipped class because he was glued to a Spenser mystery by Robert B. Parker. He would be late for jobs because he got caught up in a Travis McGee adventure by John D. MacDonald. He memorized sarcastic Philip Marlowe lines from detective stories by Raymond Chandler. Now, after all these years, he's finally figured out maybe he should be writing hard-boiled thrillers of his own.