Dave Vizard grew up on a farm in the Thumb region of the Michigan mitten. After graduating from Mayville High School in 1970, the native of Marlette left the farm with no clear goal in mind.

The hick from the sticks headed for the thriving city of Flint, Michigan, which, at the time, was a General Motors stronghold with nearly 100,000 workers on the payroll. Dave found a job working on an auto assembly line and attended Mott Community College, where he became a sports writer for the College Clamor.

But Uncle Sam soon called via the military draft. Dave’s schooling and a year of writing sports obviously qualified him to become a combat correspondent, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. But the war in Vietnam was winding down in 1972, and Dave was assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station at Beaufort, S.C. where he soon became editor of the base newspaper – The Jet Stream.

Writing and editing real-life stories about Marines while in the Corps sealed the deal for Dave. It set the foundation for a 40-year love affair with journalism and the written word. After earning a bachelor’s degree and a coveted internship at the Detroit News through Wayne State University, the auto assembly line worker looked for the opportunity to say so long to GM and hello to a newspaper career.

That big break arrived with a bow on it in the form of a reporting job with The Flint Journal. Soon, editors at The Journal decided to take advantage of Dave’s experience as an hourly worker on the assembly line. Dave became the
newspaper’s labor reporter, an opportunity that afforded him the chance to cover Big 3 contract talks between General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler and the United Autoworkers Union. Additionally, Dave reported on an illegal assembly line speed-up at a Chevrolet Truck Plant, faulty engines built at Buick, elevated levels of cancer among GM workers, and a conspiracy by Flint-area doctors to sell sick leaves to GM

Dave with state Attorney General Frank Kelly and Larry Gustin, an editor of The Flint Journal. The AG was in Flint to announce an investigation into a conspiracy to sell sick leaves by Flint area doctors to autoworkers who could not get legitimate time off work.

It also resulted in a promotion. After working on the copy desk to learn editing and headline writing skills, Dave became Lifestyle editor of The Journal. Within a year, the paper’s lifestyle department produced a series of stories that shined a light on a state Department of Social Services system that allowed convicted felons to become foster parents. One felon, convicted of rape, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and operating a house of prostitution, became a foster parent to teenage girls. The series concluded with the state overhauling its rules for foster parents. It also resulted in a wave of journalism awards for the newspaper.

From there, Dave was named the Metropolitan Editor of The Bay City Times, where he revamped local news coverage. Through normal attrition at the newspaper, Dave was able to develop an award-winning staff of reporters and editors. Soon, reporters discovered that the city fire department did not follow its own policies regarding public building inspections, putting citizens at potential risk. Reporters also discovered financial irregularities in the county sheriff’s department as well as the city’s public school district. Dave also supervised an examination of state efforts to cleanup the Saginaw Bay Watershed, which was once declared one of the nation’s worst sites of pollution. The result was a 24-page special section that spotlighted the successes and failures of the clean-up effort. The special section was used in local schools as a teaching tool. The section received several state and national journalism awards. The Times also nominated the work for a Pulitzer Prize.

Later, Dave was named News Editor of The Bay City Times, a position that made him responsible for the newspaper's coverage of world, national, state, and business news. He supervised talented copy editors and oversaw daily publication of the newspaper.

Eventually, Dave became Editor of True North Magazine, a npdays4-ADJjob he thought was probably the best of his career. As editor of a northern Michigan lifestyle publication, Dave was able to travel throughout the region, meeting people and developing magazine story ideas from Mackinac Island to West Branch. Editing True North was a great way for Dave to cap his 34-year journalism career.

Many of the people, events, and places Dave experienced as a journalist, have been developed into the characters, locales, and events in his novels. Real people with real issues facing the great questions of their lives results in great fiction.

Dave is now a writer and editor who lives with his wife, Barbara, on Lake Huron near Caseville, Michigan. Dave has three adult children: Michael, Leah, and Mack. They turned out to be fine people and good, productive citizens, despite their old man.

“While part of a series, Vizard’s mystery can be easily read as a stand-alone. The novel follows Nick and Dave as the two sink their teeth into the nitty-gritty of the plight of Key West’s homeless population during a murder investigation that refreshingly follows hard-boiled, boozy reporters instead of the typical hard-boiled, boozy detectives. ... The novel’s best scenes follow a group of homeless folks who befriend the two journalists and become essential to the probe, their voices finally being heard.”
– Kirkus Reviews