John D. Voelker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John D. Voelker (June 19, 1903–March 19, 1991), better known by his pen name Robert Traver, was an attorney, judge, and writer. He is best known as the author of the novel Anatomy of a Murder.
Voelker was born in Ishpeming, Michigan and spent most of his life there. He graduated from the University of Michigan law school in 1928 and practiced law for a time in Chicago, Illinois before tiring of city life and returning to Ishpeming to enter private practice. Later, he was elected to the office of Marquette County prosecutor. In 1957, he was appointed the 74th justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, and was subsequently re-elected to that position. Voelker retired from the court in 1959 in order to write full-time after the success of his novel Anatomy of a Murder and to fish at his beloved Frenchman's Pond.
Under the pen name Robert Traver, Voelker published a number of novels and short stories with legal themes, all with the small-town Upper Peninsula setting he was most familiar with. He also published three books on fishing which are regarded as classics of the genre.
[edit] Bibliography
- Danny and the Boys, 1951 (novel)
- Small Town D.A., 1954 (short stories and essays)
- Anatomy of a Murder, 1958 (novel)
- Trout Madness, 1960 (short stories)
- Hornstein's Boy, 1962 (novel)
- Anatomy of a Fisherman, 1964 (non-fiction)
- Laughing Whitefish, 1965 (novel)
- The Jealous Mistress, 1967 (essays)
- Trout Magic, 1974 (short stories)
- People Versus Kirk, 1981 (novel)
