Richard North Patterson

 Richard North Patterson (born February 22, 1947) is an American author of fiction. He was born in Berkeley, California, the eldest child of a corporate executive and a housewife. While still a child, he moved with his parents to Bay Village, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Bay High School in 1964. He graduated in 1968 from Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1971 he graduated from Case Western Reserve Law School and served as an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Ohio and has been partner in several of the country’s leading law firms. He also served as the liaison for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to the Watergate Special Prosecutor.