Penny McCall was born and raised in southeastern Michigan, the seventh of nine children, whose claim to fame was reading five books a week in grade school. Needless to say, her obsession with the written word only grew from there ' despite a short, and misguided, foray into the world of computer science (the "sensible" job path). With the help and support of one of her sisters, she began to write 'and write and write and write' and finally sold her first novel in 1997 (as Penny McCusker.) Four more followed, until that line closed down in 2001, and after a little hiatus ' and yet another change of direction ' she began to write humor, if only to satisfy her inner smart aleck. Berkley bought her first story about a sarcastic FBI agent and a librarian with a photographic memory (All Jacked Up), and she's been happily writing for them ever since.