Terry L. Shaffer

Terry L. Shaffer grew up near Oregon City, about twenty miles south of Portland, Oregon. He graduated from Oregon City High School and Clackamas Community College before moving on to Portland State University, majoring in Political Science. Between high school and college, Terry spent four years in the United States Navy, and was assigned duty stations in Long Beach, California, and Naval Intelligence billets in Washington, D.C. and Alameda, California, from where he sailed to the Western Pacific aboard an aircraft carrier and earned both the Vietnam Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

During his college days at Portland State, Terry joined the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department where he was assigned a variety of positions including patrol, detectives and narcotics. He retired in 2000 after twenty-five years’ service. After writing thousands of pages of police reports and search warrant affidavits, he likes to say that he has twenty-five years’ experience writing in the true crime genre.

Terry began his writing career in fiction shortly before he retired and has been at it ever since. He lives full time in his motorhome with his miniature Dachshund, Ellie Mae, and divides his time between his home in Colton, Oregon, and various locations in the American Southwest where he spends his time writing and exploring. Terry enjoys off-roading, photography, reading and, of course, writing.