As a writer, Nodiff taps real-life experience representing condos and HOAs to pull back the curtain on how these self-governing communities really operate.  Colorful characters, well-intentioned boards and savvy managers navigate twisting plots and internal tensions as they battle weaponized drones, cybercrime and other emerging threats. 

Now retired, St. Louis attorney Nodiff represented community associations for more than 30 years.  He was a founder of the Heartland Chapter of the Community Associations Institute (CAI), is a Fellow in the College of Community Association Lawyers and served on CAI’s board of trustees for six years.  Nodiff was an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University School of Law for seven years.  He has authored numerous amicus briefs and published a dozen articles in legal publications and Common Ground magazine.  CAI awarded him “Author of the Year” in 2018 for his book on how pioneer lawyers created a new body of “community association law” and a companion work on how early managers formed a distinct field of management. In January 2023, he received the “Don Buck Lifetime Contribution Award” from the College of Community Association Lawyers.

Through his law practice, Nodiff has witnessed community governance up close and personal.  Through meetings with boards and homeowners, he’s been to more library community rooms, church basements, and living rooms across Missouri than most politicians. 

Whether dealing with populism or the shared economy, Nodiff presents an informative and entertaining glimpse of democracy at the neighborhood level.  His fiction offers a fresh and unique voice, creating a large body of work that is both fun and informative.  Through intriguing plots and characters, we see democracy at its most intimate level – the good, bad and ugly.  It can be a risky business, but nobody gets hurt (almost).  Laugh or groan, you’ll recognize the characters and tensions in his novels.