Start with the fundamentals. That’s how renaissance man Mark ONeill, class of 1983, has approached every job of his eclectic career. There was the time he left a corporate gig to design board games (“If you want to understand the market, look at what’s selling”). Or the Italian water ice stores he franchised across New Jersey in 1994 (“I learned about royalty streams from working in toys.”)

Now, after a 20-year run at Pfizer, the recently retired ONeill has once again morphed professions, emerging this spring as a published author of To Catch A Spy, the official sequel to the 1952 book, To Catch a Thief. 

Popularized in 1954 by the Alfred Hitchcock film starring Cary Grant as retired jewel thief John Robie and Grace Kelly as socialite Francie Stevens, ONeill’s story takes place one year later, with Robie stumbling upon an espionage ring in the French Riviera that may just involve the mysterious Stevens. 

“I’ve always loved this story, and I always knew I wanted to write thrillers,” said ONeill. “I also knew my odds of getting an agent were 1 in 1,000, so I thought back to the toy business and wondered, ‘What if I tapped into something I loved that was already in existence?’”