One of the greatest yet least appreciated American post-war crime writers, David Goodis was born in Philadelphia in 1917, and wrote his first novel, Retreat from Oblivion, in 1938. His big break came in 1946 with the publication of Dark Passage, which was made into a film starring Bogart and Bacall. During his life he wrote many short stories, film treatments, scripts for radio serials such as Superman, and seventeen novels including Shoot the Pianist (filmed by Truffaut). He died in 1967.