Day Keene

Born in Chicago in 1904 as Gunnar Hjerstedt, Day Keene became a remarkably versatile popular writer. Reliable biographical sources identify Day Keene as a pseudonym, and note that he wrote under several other names as well, including Lewis Dixon, Alvin F. Hunter, William Richards, Clark Nelson, Daniel White, John Corbett, and Donald King.

He is best remembered as one of the standout paperback mystery writers of the 1950s. Accounts of his career describe him as highly prolific, with more than 50 novels to his name, and as a writer who moved easily between theater, radio, pulp magazines, paperbacks, television, and movies. Readers and critics have often associated his fiction with suspenseful plots, wrong-man stories, and settings in places like South Florida and Louisiana.

Keene died in North Hollywood, California, on January 9, 1969. His work still attracts crime-fiction readers who enjoy lean, energetic storytelling and the tough, atmospheric feel of mid-century noir.