Michael Newton (author)

Michael Newton (September 16, 1951 – September 6, 2021) was an American author and journalist. He published 357 books throughout his career, which included 258 novels and 99 nonfiction books. Born in Bakersfield, California, Newton was a high school teacher and a bodyguard before he shifted to writing. He received his bachelors degree from California State College in 1973, where he did graduate studies, before transferring to the University of Nevada in 1979.

Newton started his writing career as a ghostwriter on Don Pendleton's The Executioner book series. He published mostly novels, utilizing several pseudonyms. He also wrote several non-fiction books, particularly reference works. Many of his reference works were on serial killers. Another focus was the Ku Klux Klan, on which he wrote several reference works; Newton's 2001 book on the KKK's history in Florida, The Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Florida, received positive academic reviews and an award from the Florida Historical Society.