At seventeen, Martin Limon joined the army and served briefly as a reporter for the Pacific Stars & Stripes in Seoul, Korea. During five tours in Korea, he studied the language, traveled the country from the DMZ to the Yellow Sea, and was personally embroiled in the clash of cultures on this trip-wire edge of the American empire. His first novel, Jade Lady Burning, was published by Soho Press in 1992 and was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times. The series features 8th Army detectives George Sueno, from East L.A., and Ernie Bascom, a native of the suburbs of Detroit.