James Luceno is an New York Times bestselling author who first wrote for Indiana Jones with his novel adaptation of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episodes "Verdun, September 1916" and "Paris, October 1916" as The Mata Hari Affair for Ballantine Books in 1992. Luceno went on to pen several works for Star Wars. He returned to the Indiana Jones franchise for the 2008 publications Indiana Jones: The Ultimate Guide and the junior novelization of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.