Stephen Mertz (born May 3, 1947) is an American fiction author who is best known for his mainstream thrillers and novels of suspense.
His work covers a wide variety of styles from paranormal dark suspense (Night Wind and Devil Creek) to historical speculative thrillers (Blood Red Sun) and hardboiled noir (Fade to Tomorrow).
Booklist called Nightwind, “fast-paced...a white-knuckle read.” Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine labeled Mertz, “an action specialist.”[citation needed] Edgar-winner Joe R. Lansdale supplies this career assessment: “Stephen Mertz writes a hard-edged, fast-paced thriller for those who like their tales straight and sharp and full of dark surprise,” while Booklist had this to say about The Korean Intercept: "Fans of political thrillers will relish this high-action tale.
An adrenaline rush!” Ed Gorman wrote, “Stephen Mertz just keeps on getting better, each novel more dazzling in story and style.” Mertz is also a popular lecturer on the craft of writing and has appeared as a guest speaker before writer's groups and at universities.
He also created the Mark Stone: MIA Hunter and Cody's Army series, written under the pseudonyms Jack Buchanan and Jim Case respectively.