Educated at Texas Tech University, where he received a BSc, Garrett then joined the U.S Marine Corps. After spending some time as an industrial chemist in Michigan, he moved to New York City and began a writing career. He had already published his first story, Probability Zero in Astounding Science Fiction magazine in 1944. He became a prolific writer during the 1950's and 1960's and was Astounding's greatest contributor. He frequently collaborated with Robert Silverberg and many other notable SF writers, invariably using a pseudonym for each collaborative work. His best-known character was inspector Darcy, the protagonist in many of his best works. During the 1970's Garrett took holy orders in the Old Catholic Church, but he eventually abandoned the cloth and returned to writing. In1981, he suffered an attack of viral meningitis and suffered brain damage from which he never really recovered. He was hospitalized in a psychiatric clinic where he died in 1987. His works include A Pattern for Monsters (1957), The Best Policy (1957), The Eyes Have IT (1964), A Case of Identity (1964), A Fortnight of Miracles (1965), A Matter of Gravity (1974), The Ipswich Phial (1976), The Napoli Express (1979) and Lord Darcy Investigates (1981). |
