Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database. Michael Brett published under this name, too.

Duane Decker wrote a beloved series about an imaginary major league baseball team called the Blue Sox from 1947 to his death in 1964. During World War II, he served in the Pacific with the Marine Corps. After participating in several island invasions, he became a combat correspondent on the Leatherneck, the official Marine Corps publication, where his tour of duty took him to Peleliu, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. One of the highlights of his military career came when he witnessed the formal surrender of Japan aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay as a Staff Sergeant and editor of Leatherneck. After the war, he had a notable career writing for leading magazines, residing in New Hampshire. An enthusiastic baseball fan, his books have been enjoyed by thousands. He was a graduate of Colgate University.

Jack Ritchie was born in a room behind his father’s tailor shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 26th, 1922. After leaving high school, Ritchie was a student at the Milwaukee State Teachers College. When America joined the Second World War, he enlisted in the U.S army. He was stationed in the Central Pacific for two years, serving for much of that period on the island of Kwajalein. It was here that he first discovered crime and mystery fiction. To pass the time, he read a large amount of mystery books and it was through this that he grew to love the genre. At the end of the war, Ritchie returned to his hometown of Milwaukee. After trying unsuccessfully to go back to college under the G.I. Bill, Ritchie worked for a time in his father’s shop. Not wishing to follow in his father’s footsteps, Ritchie decided to try writing stories for a living. When Ritchie met the literary agent Larry Sternig (through his mother, Irma Reitci, who also wrote short stories) he gave him a copy of a story he had written. Sternig recognised his writing ability from the very beginning and sold Ritchie’s first story, "Always the Season", to the New York Daily News in 1953. Larry Sternig went on to be his lifelong agent. Ritchie married a fellow writer, Rita Krohne, in 1954. Rita, under her married name, wrote a series of historical adventure novels for children. Among these was the award-winning "Night Coach to Paris". Jack and Rita Ritchie made their living from the combined income of their freelance writing, though in an interview in 1962, Jack Ritchie mentioned that they never collaborated on any of their stories. Ritchie and his wife lived in various Milwaukee locales throughout the 1950's. Their first home together was a secluded log cabin on Washington Island, where during the winter they battled against the elements. With the birth of their first child in 1957, the Ritchies relocated to a larger house on the island. In 1964, they moved back to the mainland, living in a farmhouse just west of Jefferson and raising a family of four children. In his spare time, Ritchie was an avid reader of non-fiction books and had a particular interest in history. He was also a fan of word puzzles and did the crossword in the Milwaukee Journal religiously. While his wife took part-time work to supplement the family income, Jack Ritchie continued to be a prolific writer of short stories. Ritchie’s work appeared in an amazing variety of periodicals and newspapers. He contributed a number of "hard-boiled" stories to Manhunt magazine throughout the 1950's with other stories appearing in such diverse publications as The Philadelphia Inquirer, Smashing Detective Stories and Good Housekeeping. Some readers may wonder why Ritchie's stories appeared in such a wide variety of periodicals. The major reason for this was that his agent, Larry Sternig, would promptly send out manuscripts whenever a new publication appeared on the scene. As Jack Ritchie's son Steven has noted, this is what made Sternig a great literary agent. However, it was to Alfred Hitchock's Mystery Magazine that Ritchie sold more stories to than any other periodical. Between 1959 and 1982, Ritchie sold an incredible 123 stories to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. One of these tales, "The Green Heart", was adapted into the movie "A New Leaf" starring Walter Matthau. Other stories from AHMM were used in the popular television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. As has been noted by author Donald E. Westlake, Ritchie never really gained the recognition he deserved. This was because he wrote in the short story field, as opposed to the more fashionable novels (Tiger Island was published posthumously in 1987). But to his many fans he is seen as one of the greatest short story writers of all time. Those that have discovered his stories invariably want to read more of them. His finest works continue to be reprinted to this day and it is through this legacy that he will be remembered

aka Ellery Queen Jr., Freeric Dannay, Manfred B. Lee, Clark Carlisle. James Clark Carlisle Holding was born April 27, 1907, in Ben Avon, Pennsylvania. His parents were James Clark Carlisle, an engineer, and Laura May (Krepps) Holding. In 1931, he married Janet Spice, with whom he had two children. Holding attended Yale University and was a member of Alpha Chi Rho. He graduated with an A.B. in 1928. Holding then took the next year to travel throughout Europe. When he returned, he took a job in Pittsburgh with Harbison Walker Co. as a firebrick salesman. After a short stay at Harbison Walker Co., he began as a junior copywriter at Batte, Barton, Durstine & Osborne in Pittsburgh. He was a copywriter from 1930 to 1944. In 1944, he moved to copy chief. During this time he created the advertising slogan for Fort Pitt beer: “Fort Pitt, That’s It.” He became vice-president after eight years and he remained in this position until 1958. While holding this high position in the company, Holding suffered the traumatic loss of his son, which eventually drove him to retire from the firm. At this point, though, Holding became a consultant, where he remained for the next ten years. Then, in 1959, he began freelance writing, which he continued until his death. Holding’s first juvenile book, The Lazy Little Zulu, was published in 1962, a few years after he began his freelance writing career. Holding’s writing has established him in the field of mystery, as well as in children’s literature. He wrote 17 juvenile books. He was also the author of more than 160 mystery stories under the pseudonym of Ellery Queen and edited many other stories. Holding wrote short mystery stories for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and Mike Shayne’s Mystery Magazine, along with other similar periodicals. One of the more famous villains he created in his mysteries was Manuel Andradas, a Brazilian hitman who disguised himself as a photographer. He was also a contributor to travel magazines such as Clipper and Signature. Holding won the John Masefield Poetry Prize and the John Hubbard Curtis Poetry Prize twice. James and Janet Holding moved to Sarasota, Florida, in 1971, but returned in 1991 when their health began to fail. Holding spent his last years living with his wife Janet at the Sherwood Oaks Retirement Home in Cranberry. Holding died March 29, 1997, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. - This biography was prepared by Anastasia Cortez and Alicia Bott, Spring 2002.

Donald E. Westlake (1933-2008) was one of the most prolific and talented authors of American crime fiction. He began his career in the late 1950's, churning out novels for pulp houses—often writing as many as four novels a year under various pseudonyms such as Richard Stark—but soon began publishing under his own name. His most well-known characters were John Dortmunder, an unlucky thief, and Parker, a ruthless criminal. His writing earned him three Edgar Awards: the 1968 Best Novel award for God Save the Mark; the 1990 Best Short Story award for "Too Many Crooks"; and the 1991 Best Motion Picture Screenplay award for The Grifters. In addition, Westlake also earned a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1993. Westlake's cinematic prose and brisk dialogue made his novels attractive to Hollywood, and several motion pictures were made from his books, with stars such as Lee Marvin and Mel Gibson. Westlake wrote several screenplays himself, receiving an Academy Award nomination for his adaptation of The Grifters, Jim Thompson's noir classic. Some of the pseudonyms he used include • Richard Stark • Timothy J. Culver • Tucker Coe • Curt Clark • J. Morgan Cunningham • Judson Jack Carmichael • D.E. Westlake • Donald I. Vestlejk • Don Westlake