In high school, Leo W. Banks worked loading delivery trucks for the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe. In those days the Sunday paper was really heavy, so he switched from lifting to writing.   He graduated from Boston College and earned a master’s degree from the University of Arizona before going to work as a reporter for The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson. He has since worked as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe. His articles have appeared in Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street Journal, National Geographic Traveler and many others. He has written more than 300 stories for Arizona Highways magazine and won more than 38 statewide, national and international journalism awards.  In 2017, he switched from journalism to fiction. His debut novel Double Wide, a mystery set in Tucson, won two Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America for Best First Novel and  Best Western Contemporary Novel.