Kenneth Butcher is an American author, best known for his mystery novels 'As the Crow Dies' and 'The Middle of Air.' Butcher was born in Washington D.C. but spent most of his childhood in Ohio. His father, an avid reader of science fiction, introduced him to the genre at a young age. Butcher's childhood was a conventional one, growing up with his two sisters, brother, and parents, with his grandfather also living with them for a significant period. His summers were spent on his grandmother's farm in West Virginia, where he had many cousins to play with.
Butcher studied engineering at Ohio State University, married his high school girlfriend, and started a family. He worked in a research lab in Kent, Ohio, before being recruited to Hendersonville, North Carolina, to start a research lab for a small company. It was here that his three boys grew up in a small-town atmosphere before they went on to college and jobs. To cope with empty nest syndrome, his wife, Jen, opened an ice cream and chocolate shop on Main Street. Butcher's career has taken him all over the world on various research, development, and business projects. He currently runs his own engineering and development company called Shining Rock Technologies and holds 15 US patents.
Butcher's family has been involved in many local projects, including baking the world's largest cookie (chocolate chip, 100 feet in diameter) and hosting the Olympic swim team from New Zealand for the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. 'The Middle of the Air' is Butcher's first novel and is intended to be the first of a trilogy about the Colebrook family. As of writing, he is working on the second novel in the trilogy, 'The Face of the Water.' In addition to his mystery novels, Butcher has also written 'The Dream of Saint Ursula,' set mostly in the Virgin Islands. His latest book, 'The Crossbow Murders,' is a prequel to 'As the Crow Dies.'