Pseudonym of Walter Brown Gibson. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Peddie Institute and Colegate University in New York. Gibson was a prolific writer. He wrote books on card games, hypnotism, judo and ju-jitsu. As a freelance author he tried to sell some stories to Frank Blackwell, editor of Detective Story. This magazine featured the 'Shadow', a crime fighter. Blackwell asked Gibson to produce the first 'Shadow' novel. At this time, Gibson was editing a magic magazine called The Seven Circles and editing and contributing material to True Strange Stories. He accepted Blackwell's request and so the Shadow magazine was born in 1930. Gibson was contracted to write 24 'Shadow' novels a year. After the war the Shadow was combined with Mystery Magazine. Gibson decided to pursue other projects. For the next few years he wrote magic books, children's novels and short mystery stories. In 1948, the Shadow returned to its earlier format and Gibson started writing 'Shadow' stories again. After eighteen years and 325 issues the Shadow magazine ceased publication in 1949. In 1963, the New York-based paperback publisher, Belmont Books, decided to bring the character back and Gibson wrote another 'Shadow' novel. Another 8 'Shadow' novels were written by Dennis Lynds (who wrote detective novels himself) adopting the 'Maxwell Grant' alias. Many 'Shadow' novels were reprinted.