Author Gary Ponzo is a Writer's Digest Award-Winning author who was twice nominated for the very prestigious Pushcart Prize. His first novel, "A Touch of Deceit," was born from his childhood experiences working in his father's candy store in Brooklyn, NY. His father was Sicilian and became friendly with some local members of a different kind of Sicilian family. Since Gary was just fifteen at the time, these family members would make sure he was protected whenever he would work late at night by himself. He soon discovered a side to the mafia not many people knew. It was these relationships which caused him to write about Sicilian FBI agent, Nick Bracco, who recruits his mafia cousin to chase down the world's most feared terrorist. His Nick Bracco series has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide and has been translated into German and French.