About the Author…

Author Karin Yapalater was born in Biscayne Bay, Florida and raised in the New York City suburbs. Seeking adventure at an early age, a scholarship to study philosophy and literature in London granted Yapalater with her first Atlantic passage. A spirited teenage adventure turned into a lifelong fascination with the human psyche. Over the years her studies, work and travels took her from the relatively safe haven of the European publishing scene, to the Thai-Cambodian border where she witnessed the ravages of war and degradation of life in a refugee camp, to the Soviet Union to participate in joint film and publishing ventures, to Western Europe where she helped educators develop curricula for poverty stricken countries.

Yapalater’s wanderlust eventually led her back to New York City, but her sense of adventure has far from abandoned her. When Yapalater first thought about writing a mystery novel based on the sexually manipulative patient-psychoanalyst relationship between renowned analyst Carl Jung and his young patient, Sabina Spielrein, she knew she needed to present a compelling story. As a graduate of Columbia University’s prestigious writing program, Yapalater was poised to deliver. All she needed was an open door to lead her into the covert world of practical homicide.

Connections to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office led to meetings with Chief Trial Counsel Daniel McCarthy, a seasoned pro sporting a four-leaf clover tie and cufflinks shaped as miniature gold handcuffs. The two Bloomingdales bags he carried held graphic depositions, video taped confessions, and crime scene photos from old cases — a crash course in murder, with a side order of forensics. Despite the gruesome and graphic nature of the materials, Yapalater was fascinated, and her wild ride through the New York City justice system began.

McCarthy introduced Yapalater to Deputy Chief Investigator Frank Viggiano, who gave her insider access to police procedures in precincts, crime scenes, and morgues. She sat in on the sentencing of convicted murderers and witnessed courtroom dramas first-hand. The result of this voluminous knowledge is An Hour To Kill, a stunning debut novel about murder in Manhattan, as realistic a look at the process as has been written. Yapalater is now at work on a second book starring her compelling characters, NYPD Detectives James Gurson and Didi Kane, set in “the other Hamptons” on Long Island, where the descendants of Indian settlers and African slaves struggle to survive in the shadow of the rich and famous.

When she is not writing, Yapalater teaches philosophy workshops and practices natural horsemanship with her quarter horses.