Fredric William Brown was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. After finishing high school in 1922, he attended Hanover College and the University of Cincinnati. In 1929, he married Helen Ruth Brown. They moved to Milwaukee where their two sons were born. Brown attempted several jobs before joining the Milwaukee Allied Authors Club and started writing for trade magazines. From 1937 until 1945, he was a proofreader for the Milwaukee Journal.

In 1937, he sold his first detective storyFredric William Brown was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. After finishing high school in 1922, he attended Hanover College and the University of Cincinnati. In 1929, he married Helen Ruth Brown. They moved to Milwaukee where their two sons were born. Brown attempted several jobs before joining the Milwaukee Allied Authors Club and started writing for trade magazines. From 1937 until 1945, he was a proofreader for the Milwaukee Journal. In 1937, he sold his first detective story 'Monday's Off Night'. His breakthrough came a year later with the publication of 'The Moon for a Nickel' in Detection Story. In the Forties, he sold hundreds of stories to the detective and science fiction pulp magazines.
In 1947, his first novel was published which brought him fame and money. He quit his job to become a full-time writer. He divorced Helen and soon remarried. In 1949, the Browns moved to Mexico where they stayed for three years. In 1952, they moved to the Los Angeles area, but in 1954, on the advice of Brown's doctors, they moved back to Tucson. Brown was suffering from asthma. In 1961, they went to California where Fredric wrote screenplays and scripts. In the late Sixties, his health was declining fast and he drank heavily. His first wife died in 1970 and Brown passed away two years later in hospital.

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