James Melville was born in London in 1931 and educated in North London. He read philosophy at Birkbeck College before being conscripted into the RAF, then took up school-teaching and adult education. Most of his subsequent career has been spent overseas in cultural diplomacy and educational development, and it was in this capacity that he came to know, love, and write about Japan and the Japanese. His Superintendent Otani crime novels combines superb story-telling with a fascinating insight into modern Japanese life. He has also written an historical novel set in Japan, The Imperial Way.