For more than forty years, John Lutz was one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction, producing dozens of novels and more than 250 short stories. His earliest success came with the Alo Nudger series, set in his hometown of St. Louis. Tropical Heat introduced Fred Carver, a Florida detective whom Lutz followed in ten novels. He later wrote five books in the Frank Quinn serial killer series. Lutz was a former president of the Mystery Writers of America, and his many honors include lifetime achievement awards from the Short Mystery Fiction Society and the Private Eye Writers of America. He died in 2021.
