The son of a policeman, Tyler Dilts grew up wanting to follow in his father's footsteps. Along the line, his career goals changed, but he never lost his interest in the daily work of homicide detectives. Now an instructor at California State University in Long Beach, his writing has appeared in "The Los Angeles Times," "The Chronicle of Higher Education," "The Best American Mystery Stories," and in numerous other publications. "A King of Infinite Space" is his first novel.