Lemuel De Bra

Born in Iowa in 1884, Lemuel Lawrence de Bra was an American writer best known for short stories. Sources describe him as a prolific magazine author who also wrote under names including Edmond Lawrence and L. L. de Bra.

Before writing full time, he worked in California for the Bureau of Internal Revenue and later the Secret Service. Biographical accounts say those years — including experience connected to San Francisco and cases involving smuggling and Chinatown life — helped shape the settings and tone of much of his fiction.

Around the early 1920s, writing became his main career, and he later lived in Florida. Alongside adventure and mystery stories, he also wrote some nonfiction, especially on agricultural subjects. He died in 1954.