John Alfred "Jack" Webb was born on January 16, 1916 in Los Angeles, California. He lived in Playa Del Ray and had a variety of careers, including zoo bird keeper, aircraft production supervisor and technical writer before turning to full‐time novel writing. Webb is most known for his Sammy Golden and Father Shanley mysteries which he published over a ten year span beginning in 1952 with The Big Sin. His stories appeared in crime fiction digests like Mike Shayne, Alfred Hitchcock and Manhunt, and he also wrote under the names John Farr and Tex Grady. Webb died on February 12, 2008 in Coronado, California.