One of the most prolific golf writers of his generation, James Y. Bartlett's first Hacker golf mystery, Death is a Two-Stroke Penalty, was published in hardcover by St. Martin's Press in 1991. The second, Death from the Ladies Tee, followed a year later. After a hiatus of nearly ten years ("Hey! I had to earn a living," Bartlett says) in 2005 Yeoman House brought out those two novels as well as the new Death at the Member-Guest simultaneously in trade softcover editions. The latest in the Hacker series, Death in a Green Jacket, was published in 2007 and begins what the author is calling Hacker's major series.  The latest Hacker golf mystery, Death from the Claret Jug, was published by Yeoman House in the summer of 2018.

James Y. Bartlett has been a golf writer and editor for nearly 20 years and has probably published more words about the game of golf than any other living writer. He has worked as features editor at Golfweek, editor of Luxury Golf magazine, and executive editor of Caribbean Travel & Life magazine. As a freelance writer, his work has appeared in dozens of national magazines, ranging from Esquire to Bon Appetit.

He was the golf columnist for Forbes FYI (now Forbes Life) for every issue of the first 12 years of that magazine's history. And under the pseudonym of "A.G. Pollard Jr." is now in his 16th year of providing witty golf pieces for the readers of Hemispheres, the in-flight magazine of United Air Lines.

In addition to his Hacker mystery series, Bartlett is the author of four nonfiction books. He currently lives in Rhode Island with his wife Susan.