John Lamb began his civilian law enforcement career in 1979 as a deputy sheriff with the Riverside County (California) Sheriff's Department. After the academy, he was assigned to the desert community of Indio (near Palm Springs) where he won several citations for superior performance. In 1982, John transferred to the Oceanside Police Department in northern San Diego County. During his career in Oceanside, he was a street cop, a hostage negotiator, a CSI, a homicide investigator, a detective sergeant, and the hostage negotiation team leader. John was considered one of the premier homicide detectives of San Diego County and earned frequent praise from the District Attorney's office for his work. He also possesses in excess of 700 hours in specialized training in such varied subjects as bomb scene investigation, clandestine laboratory investigations, psychological profiling, and link analysis. Finally, John was cited numerous times for superior performance and bravery in the line of duty.

He was medically retired from the force in 1997 and immediately set out to pursue his other great passion: professional writing. John is happily married to Joyce, a latent fingerprint expert and crime analyst. In January 2004, they moved from San Diego County to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley where they live with four golden retrievers and six "rescued" cats.