Ron Ruthfield is a former reporter for a CBS-affiliated TV station, newsman for The Associated Press, communications executive, novelist, and satirist. He grew up in Miami Beach and attended South Beach Elementary School, where he was a distinguished member of the safety patrol in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. He was awarded a special honor for allowing Dr. Stephen Hawking, who became one of the world’s foremost theoretical physicists and cosmologists, to cheat in class by constantly looking at his test papers.

Mr. Ruthfield is the author of the fact-based thriller “The Capital Underground,” which deals with America’s War on Drugs, the U.S. Witness Protection Program, and international money laundering. He resides in a happy hollow in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, and every now and then, he walks around aimlessly, pondering how he ever wound up becoming a hillbilly.

Mr. Ruthfield is available for special book events. He can be reached at 336-782-6284.