Peter B. (Peter Bernard) Kyne

Born in San Francisco in 1880, Peter B. Kyne built a wide-ranging career as a novelist, short-story writer, and screenwriter. He wrote fast-moving popular fiction that often drew on business life, the West, and outdoor settings, helping him become a familiar name to magazine readers as well as book audiences.

Kyne is especially remembered for his stories about Cappy Ricks and the Ricks Logging & Lumbering Company, which were serialized in major magazines including The Saturday Evening Post and Cosmopolitan. His 1920 novel Kindred of the Dust was a bestseller, and his work was adapted for film many times during the studio era.

A prolific writer over several decades, he remained closely associated with California in both his life and his fiction. He died in 1957, leaving behind a large body of entertaining, accessible work that reflects the tastes and storytelling energy of early modern popular fiction.