J. L. Melton is a retired electrician who spent 32 years working at a mill near his hometown, Timmonsville, South Carolina. Having only started writing in 2023, Melton views it as a new field to master, similar to his past experiences, saying, "You keep working at it and hope to get better."
Melton attended Hartsville High School in Hartsville, South Carolina, and later earned a bachelor's degree in information technology from the University of Phoenix.
His bibliography includes several works: They Came In The Night (2023) and The Town Of Outlaws (2023). He also authored the Derrick Mallow Mysteries, starting with The Demon Of The Lake Murders (2023), which follows Detective Derrick Mallow as he retires from the Decreston Law Enforcement Division in New York and moves to Lake Tisdale, South Carolina. There, Mallow becomes embroiled in solving two mysterious murders and a suicide, with local rumours of a demon haunting the crime scenes.
Melton's most recent book, Murdered By The Mist (2024), continues the Derrick Mallow Mysteries. Set in Lake Tisdale during the summertime, the story begins with the discovery of a man and a woman found dead as a dense mist envelops the town. Initially thought to be an accident, the deaths soon become the focus of a murder investigation.
J. L. Melton is married and has a large family of two sons, four stepsons, one stepdaughter, two granddaughters, and one step-grandson.
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