Ran Ernst is and author-illustrator, cartoonist and artist from Ohio. Ran was a reading, doodling daydreamer in high school, and unsure of his path, went to vocational school for Drafting. After a long career as a draftsman and then as a pharmacy technician, he returned to his creative passion. He now makes up stories and characters off the warm sunny beaches of Tampa Florida. The Mystery of the Crimson Claw is book one of his debut middle grade series Graveyard Elementary.