Francis Van Wyck Mason was born to a patrician Boston family. His first eight years, he lived in Berlin and Paris. In 1917, he became an ambulance driver for a while before he managed to enlist in the French Army where he became a decorated artillery officer. By the end of the First World War he had worked his way into the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant. After the war he studied at Harvard University where he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in 1924. In 1931, he became a full-time writer. He also wrote together with Helen Brawner under the joint pseudonym 'Geoffrey Coffin'.