ABOUT THE AUTHOR | LEE GOLDBERG

Lee Goldberg is no stranger to the mind of Adrian Monk, having co-written three episodes of the popular USA Network series. "Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico" took Monk south of the border to solve the mysterious demise of a skydiver who reportedly drowned to death in mid-air, "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather" found Monk infiltrating an organized crime family to get to the bottom of an apparent mob hit, and "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing" -- based loosely on Goldberg's first Monk mystery novel, "Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse."

Goldberg's series of three original Monk mystery novels will not be the first time he's developed original novels based on a popular television series. Goldberg is also the author of the Diagnosis Murder series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery that he also wrote and produced.

Based in Los Angeles, Goldberg got his start while enrolled at UCLA. Goldberg put himself through college as a freelance writer for publications such as American Film, Starlog, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times Syndicate, The Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle.

He also authored his first book, ".357 Vigilante" (under the name "Ian Ludlow") while at UCLA. Goldberg followed with a pair of non-fiction books -- "Successful Television Writing" and "Unsold Television Pilots" -- and the novels "My Gun Has Bullets," "Beyond the Beyond" and the recently published, "The Man With The Iron-On Badge."

Goldberg's television work began when he sold a freelance script to the series Spenser: For Hire. Since then, Goldberg has earned two Edgar Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America and tackled a variety of genres:

Sci-Fi: SeaQuest
Cop Shows: Hunter
Martial Arts: Martial Law
Whodunits? Diagnosis Murder, Nero Wolfe
The Occult: She-Wolf of London
Kid's Shows: R.L. Stine's The Nightmare Room
Adventure: Baywatch, Missing

Goldberg lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. Look for Goldberg's third installment of the Monk mystery novel series, "Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu," to be published by Signet in January 2007.