Robert J. Randisi was born in Brooklyn, New York. He began writing at fifteen, made his first sale at twenty-two. At the age of thirty, he quit working a “real job” to write full time. With Ed Gorman, he co-founded and edited Mystery Scene magazine, and co-founded the American Crime Writers League.

He founded The Private Eye Writers of America in 1981, and created the Shamus Award. Randisi has written in many genres, but the P.I. story is still his first love. With over 400 books to his credit, almost 300 of them are set in the Old West. Like his Joe Keough character, he now lives in Missouri.