My name is Jeffrey L. Diamond, and I am a writer, producer, and director with forty years of experience in television news. I am also the author of the Ethan Benson thriller series that you can read all about here on my new blog on my new author website. My novels are all set in the pressure cooker world of broadcast journalism and chronicle the life of my hero, Ethan Benson—an award-winning investigative reporter, producer, and crime-fighting sleuth who works for a fictional television newsmagazine called The Weekly Reporter. So are you beginning to see what I’m driving at? Have you made the connection between me and my books? Well, in case you haven’t figured it out, let me tell you. My three murder mysteries—Live to Air, Live to Tape, and Live to the Network—are all based on my personal experiences producing dozens and dozens of crime stories, mostly for the television newsmagazine, 20/20. The killers, rapists, gang members, hit men, and basic ne’er-do-wells in my books are fictionalized versions of the nasty characters and despicable bad guys who I met and reported on during my career. Their crimes, habits, idiosyncrasies, and volatile personalities are all based on the deviants I researched, studied, and got to know while making my television news stories.

Now that’s something to chew on when you read my novels.

Ethan, too, is not dreamed up out of thin air, nor are the other characters in my books. Peter Sampson, Paul Lang, Mindy Herman, and the myriad of researchers, camera crews, editors and production people who populate my thrillers are all loosely based on the people I worked with at 20/20, Dateline NBC, FOX News, and even Martha Stewart Living Television, where I spent a harrowing year running the television division of her company. And that, my friends, was truly a whacky experience. So if you want to really understand what I’m talking about, read my novels and immerse yourself in Ethan Benson world.

Okay, so now that I’ve given you my pitch, you might be wondering why should I bother reading yet another blog by some relatively unknown guy who calls himself a novelist and an authority on television news. Well, rest assured—I promise that this blog will be very  different from the others that you read. Because here on my blog I’ll be discussing many of my most harrowing experiences covering many of the hottest stories of the past few decades. And I’ll be discussing how I worked with some of the most demanding superstars, reported on some of the most famous personalities, and yes, investigated some of the most notorious criminals of our times. Plus, I’ll be writing about how I process all of these real life experiences when I’m dreaming up the stories I write about in my Ethan Benson thrillers. So look for my biweekly postings. I promise it will be worth your while.