Tony Wirt was born in Lake Mills, Iowa, and got his first taste of publication in the first grade, when his essay on Airplane II: The Sequel appeared in the Lake Mills Elementary School's Creative Courier. Since then, he has published three thrillers: Pike Island, Just Stay Away, and A Necessary Act. Silent Creek is his fourth novel.

Wirt graduated from the University of Iowa and spent nine years doing media relations for the Hawkeye Athletic Department. He's also worked as a sportswriter, a movie ticket taker, and a Dairy Queen ice-cream slinger who can still do the little curly thing on top of a soft-serve cone. He currently lives in Rochester, Minnesota, with his wife and two daughters.