Author Bio

After 42 years as an editor on newspapers from Minneapolis, MN to San Jose, CA I was afraid of retirement. So afraid in fact that I sought out a high tech company in Santa Cruz, CA, that hired retirees part time for assembly line work so I'd have a job in my post-retirement years. I adjusted to my new line of work, but something was missing—mainly excitement. I missed the pressures of the newsroom, the thrill of meeting deadlines, the camaraderie of fellow journalists. But most of all I missed my long-time romance with the written word.

That's when I began churning out novels, all kinds of novels, action/adventure stories, murder mysteries, and historical novels including one romantic tale set in my favorite city, San Francisco. Now, seven books and several years later, I am finding no shortage of things to write about.

It all started in 1950 when, as a 19-year-old undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, I went to work as a copy boy at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But these were the Korean War years, and my education was interrupted after my junior year when I enlisted in the U.S. Army, Infantry. After basic training and leadership school at Fort Riley, Kansas, I was sent to Ft. Benning, GA, to attend Officer Candidate School. I was commissioned in April, 1953, and was transferred to Camp Atterbury, IN, for troop duty before heading for Korea. But as fate would have it, the peace accords were signed during this period, and I was soon mustered out and returned to the university, and to my job at the Star-Tribune. I was graduated in August, 1955 with a major in English and a minor in history.

In May, 1957 I left Minneapolis to become night editor of the San Francisco News, a Scripps-Howard newspaper now defunct. Soon thereafter I met a neighbor on Telegraph Hill, Patricia Ann Kinney, a California native. We were married in March, 1959. Next stop was Santa Cruz, CA where I served as city editor of the Sentinel from 1963 to 1973. I spent my last 18 years as wire editor of the San Jose Mercury News. I retired in January, 1992.

Shortly afterward my wife fell ill with Alzheimer's disease. I spent the next few years caring for her in our home in Capitola. She died in 2001.

The newlyweds on Catalina Island

In 2002 I moved to nearby Aptos where I met a kindred spirit, Carolyn Watson Menge. We were married in 2003 at Seascape Resort on the bluffs overlooking Monterey Bay. In 2006 we moved temporarily to Boulder, CO, to be near Carolyn's daughter Susanne and her husband, Kurt Achtenhagen, and their young children, Allison and Emily. Carolyn's other daughter, Dr. Jennifer Menge, resides in Portland, OR.

The Krugers with granddaughters Allison (left) and Emily

My son, Kurt Kruger, an executive with a high tech company, makes his home in Redwood City, CA, with his wife, a vice president at Wells Fargo Bank, and their two children. My daughter, Ann Hoppe, lives on Camano Island, Washington, with her husband and their two children.

James at the BolderBoulder

Writing is a sedentary occupation, making exercise a prized diversion. Here I'm enjoying a walk—the BolderBoulder 10K race, winning a medal in my age group (78).

James Kruger, Author of Pennington's Patrimony, Welcome Are Lands, Stranger in the Mirror, The Secret Files of Moshe Shomier, Tiger Lily, The Bachelor Portraits, and Beach Street. James Kruger, Author of Pennington's Patrimony, Welcome Are Lands, Stranger in the Mirror, The Secret Files of Moshe Shomier, Tiger Lily, The Bachelor Portraits, and Beach Street.

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