Nelson Richard DeMille (born August 23, 1943) is an American author. DeMille was born in Jamaica, Queens and resides in Garden City, New York, a village on Long Island. He attended Elmont Memorial High School in Elmont, New York, is a graduate of Hofstra UniversityStrickland, Carol. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE4DE163EF93BA35757C0A966958260 "Novelist Uses The Island's Gold Coast As A Setting For A Clash of Cultures"], The New York Times, April 8, 1990. Accessed December 13, 2007. "Mr. De Mille was born in Jamaica, Queens, and educated at Elmont High School and Hofstra University, and so he knows the area well, although he calls himself a member in good standing of the middle class." and served in the Vietnam War. He is also a member of Mensa.

DeMille has also written under the names Jack Cannon, Kurt Ladner, and Brad Matthews.

He married Virginia (Ginny) on 17 September 1988. She has Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Ohio State University. They both had children from previous marriages: she had one and he had two. They had no children together. Their marriage ended in 2002.

DeMille often uses Long Island as a setting in his novels, for example in The Gold Coast, Plum Island, Word of Honor, and Night Fall. His most recent novels have followed two main characters, John Corey and Paul Brenner. At first, the story lines were completely separate, but there have been hints in the novels that they are part of a larger "DeMille Universe" that references events...