Garrity aka David J. Garrity aka David J. Gerrity (1923-1984) was in the Merchant Marines and, without giving up his day job, wrote his first two novels, Kiss Off the Dead and Cry Me a Killer, in a style and voice very similar to Mickey Spillane, his good friend and mentor. He wrote six more books over the years, including a crime novel based on a Spillane story and two ghost-written memoirs, one for a stripper and another for a private eye.