Lynn Kostoff was born in Moultrie, Georgia and raised in Northeastern Ohio. He attended Bowling Green State University for both his undergraduate and graduate degrees. Along the way to becoming a crime writer and English professor, he worked as a truck farmer, gardener, janitor, hospital orderly, and steel mill laborer. He has taught at Indiana State University, University of Alabama, and Francis Marion University. His novels include Late Rain, The Long Fall, A Choice of Nightmares, and Words to Die For.