As Scoutmaster for his sons' Boy Scout troop for four years, Mike Klaassen enjoyed dozens of  monthly campouts in Kansas.   Weather conditions ranged from hundred-degree heat to ice storms.   He also participated in four summer camps in Colorado and two ten-day treks through the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.   In 1999, he received the Scoutmaster Award of Merit from the Boy Scouts of America and the National Eagle Scout Association.

           After a frustrating trip to local bookstores to find novels that might interest his teenage sons, Mike decided to write stories himself.  Mike's first novel, The Brute, was published in 2005.  Cracks was published in 2006.              

          Mike grew up on a farm near Whitewater, Kansas.  After earning a degree in accounting from the University of Kansas, he became a Certified Public Accountant and worked for six years in public accounting.  An interest in investments led him to a career as a stockbroker and Certified Financial Planner.  After thirteen years in investments, including five years as branch manager of the Wichita office of a major brokerage firm,  he became Chairman of the Board of the local bank his father co-founded.