Patrick Kendrick worked an entire career in the fire service before retiring to write full time. While in the service he also worked as a freelance writer, publishing articles and short stories in numerous newspapers and magazines. One of those assignments brought him into contact with a serial killer that he corresponded with for several years... until the killer began to threaten him and launched a series of lawsuits against him. The killer was eventually murdered in prison but his frightening and graphic "diaries" describing his crimes became the basis of Extended Family.