Madeleine Van Hecke is a retired psychologist, educator, and game inventer  who has had the great good fortune of being able to return to her first love, writing fiction. Once You Know is her debut novel. What draws her to write novels is the same fascination with how people think that fueled her nonfiction books (Blind Spots, Prometheus Press, 2007 and The Brain Advantage, Prometheus Press, 2011). She delves into the psychology of flawed and struggling people and turns them into the characters in her stories.

Van Hecke is a former college professor (North Central College, Naperville, IL), lecturer (Open Arms Seminars), and game inventor (Wicked Words).