Originally from Buffalo, New York, John Enright holds a bachelor's degree in literature from the City College of New York and a master's degree in folklore from the University of California, Berkeley. After working in magazine journalism and book publishing, Enright left the United States to teach at the American Samoa Community College. He remained in the South Pacific for twenty-six years, directing environmental, cultural, and historical preservation programs and writing extensively about the islands. His collection of poems about Samoa, 14 Degrees South, won the University of the South Pacific Press's inaugural International Literature Competition in 2011. The author of the first three books in the Jungle Beat Mystery series: Pago Pago Tango, Fire Knife Dancing, and To'aga Enright now lives in Jamestown, Rhode Island, with his wife, ceramicist Connie Payne.