Daly, Carroll John

Carroll John Daly was an American author and father of hardboiled crime fiction, usually centred on a private detective. Daly was born in Yonkers, New York, and attended Yonkers High School. He then studied acting at De La Salle Institute and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, but he found it hard to make a living in acting and was forced to work in a cinema as a projectionist. He married Margaret G. Blakley in 1913. They had a son, John, and during this period Daly took over a cinema, which he continued to run successfully. By 1922, he owned a chain of cinemas across America and was able to withdraw in order to dedicate his time to what he liked to do best – writing.