Dary Matera (born 1955) is an author who specializes in real-life

casebook A casebook is a type of textbook used primarily by students in law schools.Wayne L. Anderson and Marilyn J. Headrick, The Legal Profession: Is it for you?' (Cincinnati: Thomson Executive Press, 1996), 83. Rather than simply laying out the legal do ...

s. He is from

Chandler, Arizona Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). It is bordered to the north and west by Tempe, to the north by Mesa, to the west by Phoenix, to the ...

. Matera grew up in

Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, and

Angeles City , anthem = Himno ning Angeles (Angeles Hymn) , subdivision_type3 = District , subdivision_name3 = , established_title = Settled , established_date = 1796 , established_title1 = Chartere ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, as the son of a Voice of America foreign service officer. He attended junior high at the International School of Bangkok, and then transferred to Wagner High School on

Clark Air Force Base Clark Air Base is a Philippine Air Force base on Luzon Island in the Philippines, located west of Angeles City, about northwest of Metro Manila. Clark Air Base was previously a United States military facility, operated by the U.S. Air Forc ...

in the Philippines. After returning to America and graduating from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

in 1977, Matera worked as a reporter for

The Miami News ''The Miami News'' was an evening newspaper in Miami, Florida. It was the media market competitor to the morning edition of the ''Miami Herald'' for most of the 20th century. The paper started publishing in May 1896 as a weekly called ''The Miami ...

(1977–82). He covered the city beats—education, crime, politics and general assignment. Matera became an independent author in 1986. His first mass market, non-fiction book, ''Are You Lonesome Tonight?'', detailed the controversial story of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

's lifelong relationship with a troubled Louisiana woman. Matera has appeared in a half dozen television documentaries, including programs on The FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted, 1930s bank robber John Dillinger, 1960s cult leader Charles Manson, and 1970s giant serial killer Ed Kemper. Matera has also appeared in 9 episodes of the television show ''America: Fact vs Fiction'' which airs on the American Heroes channel. His other books include: *''Get Me

Ellis Rubin Ellis S. Rubin (June 20, 1925 – December 12, 2006) was an American attorney who gained national fame for handling a variety of highly publicized cases in a legal career that spanned 53 years. He was famous for his innovative defenses and his ...

! -- The Life, Times and Cases of a Maverick Lawyer''. (St. Martin's Press, 1989). It was published in paperback by St. Martin's Press under the title For the Defense in June 1991. *''Quitting The Mob - How the Yuppie Don Left the Mafia and Lived to Tell His Story''. (HarperCollins, 1992) *''What's In It For Me? - How an Ex-Wise Guy Exposed the Greed, Jealously and Lust That Drive Arizona Politics''. (HarperCollins, 1992) *''Taming The Beast – Charles Manson’s Life Behind Bars''. (St. Martin's Press, 1998) Republished in 2020 under the title "Charles Manson - Conversations with a Killer." *''Strike Midnight'' -- a novel (Vine Books, 1994). *''Angels of Emergency—Rescue Stories From America's Paramedics and EMTs''. (HarperCollins, July 1996). *''The Pena Files—Dramatic Cases From The World's Top PI''. (Regan Books August 1996). *''Among Grizzlies'', (ghosted) (HarperCollins, Spring 1997). *''Childlight – How Children Reach Out to Their Parents From the Beyond''. (New Horizon Press, Spring, 2001). *''A Cry for Character – How a Group of Kids Cleaned Up Their Rowdy School and Provided the Antidote to Columbine''. (Prentice Hall/Penguin, Summer, 2001). *''The FBI's Most Wanted'', (William Morrow/HarperTorch, Fall, 2003). *''

John Dillinger John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903 – July 22, 1934) was an American gangster during the Great Depression. He led the Dillinger Gang, which was accused of robbing 24 banks and four police stations. Dillinger was imprisoned several times and ...

– The Life and Death of America’s First Celebrity Criminal''. (Carroll-Graf, Spring, 2004). *''Stolen Masterpiece Tracker – The Dangerous Life of the FBI’s Number 1 Art Sleuth'' (Barricade Books, 2006) *"MacArthur's Children - They Lost Their Innocence, In Every Way Imaginable" Novel (Kindle edition, 2010) *Charles Manson - Conversations with a Killer (Barns & Noble/Sterling, 2019) *Ed Kemper - The Coed Killer (Conversations with a Killer series, Barns & Noble/Sterling, 2021)

References

Listings at Biblio.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Matera, Dary Writers from Arizona People from Chandler, Arizona 1955 births Living people