Life and career

Marks was born in Georgetown, Ohio, the son of Barbara Cummins Marks and Gerald Ronald Marks. He has one sister, Lisa. He was raised in Cincinnati, and attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he received a B.S in Systems Analysis.

Marks is best known for the series of literary criticisms he has written on American mystery authors of the middle Twentieth Century. His first work, Who Was That Lady? Craig Rice; Queen of the Screwball Mystery, was nominated for every major mystery award including the Edgar

Edgar

Edgar is a common name from Old English words ead + gar . Literally meaning "prosperity-spear" or "prosperous spearman." It may refer to:-Historical:...

, the Agatha, the Anthony and the Macavity

Marks' next work was Atomic Renaissance: Women Mystery Writers of the 1940s/1950s, which again was nominated for an Agatha.

Mark then wrote Intent to Sell: Marketing the Genre Novel, which is now in its third edition. He became the moderator of Murder Must Advertise, a website and email group that discusses the best ways to market genre fiction in a changing marketplace.

His next work, Anthony Boucher

Anthony Boucher

Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...

, won an Anthony Award in 2009 for Best Biographical/Critical Work.

He is currently working on a biography of mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories, best known for the Perry Mason series, he also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J...

, the author who created Perry Mason

Perry Mason

Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...

 among other characters.

Marks married in 1990; they divorced in 1993. He lives in White Oak, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. In 2011, he married his longtime partner, Anthony Donley.