James Arnold is a Petersburg, VA native. Born there 65 years ago, he grew up near the Petersburg National Battlefield where Civil War soldiers fought for more than a year. As a child, he played among those hills collecting relics of bullets, belt buckles, and uniform buttons from both the North and South.
As a young man working for the G.M. Clements Painting and Remodeling Company in Petersburg, he discovered the mysterious hidden tunnel that became the cornerstone for his first book in the Tunnel of Gold series.
The native Virginian became a police officer in Petersburg and spent his career moving about the south, holding ranking positions of Patrol Sergeant, Detective Sergeant, and Police Operations Commander. Later, he became For the City of Isle of Palms, SC and also in South Dakota.
An avid reader, Jim is drawn to authors Clive Cussler, Lee Child, Michael Crighton, and Heather Graham. He is a motorcycle and Hot Rod enthusiast, and he enjoys scuba diving, sky diving, flying, shooting, and writing. An adventurer, he and his wife, Brana, a local attorney, love to travel and have explored the US extensively in the last 20 years, sometimes with their adopted six children, ages 12 to 18. James Arnold also has two children from a previous marriage, ages 34 and 35, and five grandchildren.
Jim Arnold has been interviewed about his police work, appearing on two magazine covers, and highlighted by USA Today during the 1989 Hurricane Hugo and GQ Magazine about a child kidnapping case that was solved twenty years later.