Ann Rule is regarded by many as the foremost true crime writer in America, and the author responsible for the genre as it exists today. She came to her career with a solid background in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Both her grandfather and her uncle were Michigan sheriffs, her cousin was a Prosecuting Attorney and another uncle was the Medical Examiner. Raised in that environment, she grew up wanting to work in law enforcement herself. She is a former Seattle Policewoman, former caseworker for the Washington State Department of Public Assistance, former student intern at the Oregon State Training School for Girls.

Ann Rule was born in Lowell, Michigan on October 22. Her father, Chester R. Stackhouse, was a football, basketball and track coach. Her mother, Sophie Hansen Stackhouse, was a schoolteacher who taught the developmentally disabled. The family moved often as "Stack" Stackhouse's coaching career bloomed. They lived in Saginaw and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Coatesville, Pennsylvania, Salem, Oregon, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, and Palo Alto, California. With her ex-husband, Bill Rule, Ann lived in El Paso, Texas, and Youngstown, N.Y. She now lives near Seattle, Washington, on the shores of Puget Sound. She is the mother of five, grandmother of three. Her daughter, Leslie Rule is also a writer. Leslie's books are Whispers From the Grave and Kill Me Again. Leslie has a new book out called Coast to Coast Ghosts--True Stories of Hauntings Across America

Laura works with children of battered women and the elderly, Andy Rule works in consumer research, Mike Rule manages Ann's office and does interviews for the Blind Radio Network, and Bruce Sherles works in the cookie industry.