Ridley Pearson was born in Glen Cove, New York on March 13, 1953. He was educated at Kansas University and Brown University. In the early 1970s, he was a musician and songwriter for a rock band, eventually writing more than 300 songs and the score for an award-winning documentary. Having honed his craft writing scripts for television shows such as Columbo and Quincy, he turned to writing and published his first novel, Never Look Back, in 1985. His novels include The Angel Maker, No Witnesses, and Beyond Recognition. He has also published many children's books including The Kingdom Keepers series and a series of prequels to Peter Pan written with Dave Barry. His book Peter and the Starcatchers, written with Dave Barry, was adapted into a Broadway play that won 5 Tony Awards. He received the Raymond Chandler Fulbright Fellowship at Oxford University in 1990 and the Missouri Writer Hall of Fame Quill Award Winner in 2013.