Pete was born in Queens, NY, and grew up on Long Island the eldest of five children. He graduated high school in 1976 and enlisted in the US Army Military Police Corps. He worked white hat duty in Fort Jackson, SC, and nuclear surety in Giessen, Germany. He then attended Nassau Community College and SUNY Stony Brook on the GI Bill and graduated in 1984 with a BA English. In 1985 Pete commenced working for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in various commercial claims positions and retired in 2018. After three years of part-time claim consulting work, Pete retired from the industry to write full-time. Pete's keen interest in history and genealogy led him to write his first book, "Porter: The Murder of David Varney" which came to his attention while researching his maternal grandmother's cousin. The research on that book brought the Hackett and Northey stories to his attention and he decided to write those. Living in New Hampshire since 1989, Pete often paraphrases Henry Thoreau saying he went to the woods to live deliberately and he does. He hikes, cycles and canoes. He is active in his community. Pete has been married to Sylvia since 1996 and they live in the woods.