Kendell Foster Crossen

Kendell Foster Crossen (1910–1981), who wrote under the pseudonym M.E. Chaber, was an American novelist, screenwriter, and editor celebrated for his sharp, fast-moving thrillers and crime stories. Born in Albany, Ohio, Crossen began as a pulp writer before turning to detective and espionage fiction, where his gift for pace and dialogue found its perfect outlet. Under the Chaber name, he created Milo March — a witty, worldly investigator whose adventures combined intrigue, humor, and psychological depth. Crossen also wrote science fiction and edited anthologies, earning a reputation as one of the most versatile craftsmen of the mid-twentieth-century paperback era. He died in 1981, remembered as a master of polished storytelling and a cornerstone of postwar American popular fiction.