David Daniel was born in Boston and grew up in Weymouth, on the south shore. His novel The Heaven Stone (1994), winner of the St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of America Best First Private Eye Novel contest and a Shamus Award nominee, introduced private investigator Alex Rasmussen, who has also appeared in The Skelly Man (1995) Goofy Foot (2004) and The Marble Kite (2005), all published by St. Martin's.