Barbara Seranella grew up in Pacific Palisades, California. After a restless childhood that included running away from home at the age of fourteen, joining a hippie commune in the Haight, and riding with outlaw motorcycle clubs, she decided to settle down and do something normal---she became an auto mechanic, and that was the occupation she chose for her heroine when she switched from fixing cars to writing about them.Deadman's Switch was to be the first of a planned new series, but sadly, after a long and brave fight against liver disease, Seranella died in January 2007, at the age of fifty. She was a talented woman of unbelievable bravery with an unbeatable sense of humor, and everyone who knew her, whether in person or through her books, will join us in mourning her.