William Robert Cox was born March 14, 1901 in Peapack, New Jersey, but grew up in Newark where he played football and boxed. His writing career began in 1920 as a sport reporter, and his stories, mostly about tough guys and sports figures, first appeared in 1934 in such magazines as Dime Detective, Mike Shayne's and Black Mask. Cox published over one thousand short stories in the next 38 years. He moved to the West Coast in 1948 and began working in television where he wrote over one hundred TV shows. His first novel was Make My Coffin Strong in 1954. Cox went on to write many crime, action/adventure, sports and western novels under a variety of pseudonyms, and was working on his 81st novel when he died on July 7, 1988, at his home in Los Angeles.