Author Don Winslow Says Your Weed Habit Finances Killers

The blockbuster writer on bad guys (there are plenty in ‘The Cartel,’ his latest inspired-by true-life novel) and good sex scenes

- By Cat Auer. Photos by Michael Lionstar

Best-selling novelist Don Winslow’s past is practically as colorful as the stories he crafts. Raised by a sailor and a librarian, he was instilled early on with a love of books and storytelling. Winslow knew when he was young that he wanted to be a writer but took jobs across the board and around the world: teaching Shakespeare in Oxford, leading safaris and tours in Africa and China, doing private investigation in California and New York. An epiphany in Africa led him to buckle down and finally pursue his dreams, writing his first novel, A Cool Breeze on the Underground, over three years. After a few more books and years of juggling writing and day jobs, he sold the manuscript for The Death and Life of Bobby Z to both Hollywood and Knopf. Since then, he’s been writing full-time.