Jeremiah Healy, a graduate of Rutgers College and Harvard Law School, was a professor at the New England School of Law for eighteen years. He is the creator of John Francis Cuddy, a Boston-based private investigator.

Healy's first book, Blunt Darts, was selected by The New York Times as one of the seven best mysteries in 1984. His second work, The Staked Goat, received the Shamus award for the Best Private Eye Novel of 1986. A Shamus nominee for twelve books and short stories, Healy's later novels include So Like Sleep, Swan Dive, Yesterday's News, Right to Die, Shallow Graves, Foursome, Act of God, Rescue, Invasion of Privacy, and The Only Good Lawyer. A legal thriller, The Stalking of Sheila Quinn, and a collection of his short stories, The Concise Cuddy, were published in 1998. His current Cuddy novel, Spiral, was published in August, 1999.

Now Awards Chair for the Shamus, Healy was President of the Private Eye Writers of America for two years. He also serves as North-American Vice President of the International Association of Crime Writers. His books have been translated into French, Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and German. Healy has spoken about mysteries at the Smithsonian Institution's Literature Series, The Boston Globe Book Festival, and conferences in England, Spain, Germany, and Austria. He was toastmaster at the 1996 World Mystery Convention and a Guest of Honor at the 1997 Dallas Mystery Convention. Last fall, Healy hosted the International Association of Crime Writers at the World Mystery Convention in Philadelphia.