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Stephen White is the author of the New York Times bestselling Alan
Gregory novels. In his books, he draws upon over fifteen years of clinical practice as a psychologist to create intriguing plots and complex, believable characters.
Born on Long Island, White grew up in New York, New Jersey, and Southern California and attended the University of California campuses at
Irvine (where he lasted three weeks as a creative writing major) and Los Angeles before graduating from Berkeley in 1972. Along the way he learned to fly small planes, worked as a tour guide at Universal Studios in
Los Angeles, cooked and waited tables at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, and tended bar at the Red Lion Inn in Boulder. Trained as a clinical
psychologist, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in 1979 and became known as an authority on the psychological effects of marital disruption, especially on men. White's research has appeared in Psychological Bulletin and other professional journals and books. After
receiving his doctorate, White not only worked in private practice but also at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and later as a staff
psychologist at The Children's Hospital in Denver, where he focused his attention on pediatric cancer patients. During those years he became acquainted with a colleague in Los Angeles, another pediatric
psychologist named Jonathan Kellerman. At the time, Kellerman and White were two of only about a dozen psychologists in the country working in pediatric oncology.
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White began his first novel in 1989 while he was still practicing full time. The book, a mystery/thriller called Privileged Information (1991),
features Boulder, Colorado psychologist Alan Gregory and explores the dilemmas faced by a psychologist who fears that one of his patients is a
killer who is likely to strike again. The great success of the first book was followed by Private Practices (1992), and Higher Authority (1994), a third-person novel that moved Dr. Gregory into a supporting role for the first time. Next came White's first New York Times bestsellers, Harm's Way (1996), and Remote Control (1997), another third-person thriller, this one exploring the insidious effects of the cult of celebrity.
Critical Conditions (1998) followed, based on White's feelings about
his professional experiences dealing with managed health care, and then Manner Of Death
(1999), a look back at Dr. Alan Gregory's earlier professional life an attempt at answering the question "Whatever happened to D. B. Cooper?"
White released Cold Case (2000), the eighth book in the series, in
which Alan is asked to assist a private crime fighting organization. This was followed by The Program
(2001), which introduced a new character to Boulder — Kirsten Lord. His tenth novel, Warning Signs (2002), was another in this bestselling series. Stephen's 2003 novel,
The Best Revenge, asks the question, what price do we pay for keeping secrets — even from ourselves?
Stephen's novel Blinded was number 12 in the series and was published in February 2004. His 13th Alan Gregory novel, Missing Persons, was released in 2005. Kill Me, Stephen's most challenging work to date, was released in March 2006. His 15th novel in the series,
Dry Ice, was released in March 2007. Stephen's new Alan Gregory novel, Dead Time, was published in March 2008. You can read an excerpt and
reviews of all of Stephen's books in the Book Collection.
White's oldest brother, Richard, is also a writer. Winner of a MacArthur grant and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, he is most recently the author of Ahanagran: A History Of Stories, which chronicles the life of
Stephen and Richard's mother as she grew up in Ireland and emigrated to the United States.
Stephen White lives with his family in Colorado.
For more information about Stephen, please read the Q & A with the
most frequently asked questions.
* Photos by Reid Wilkening
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