The Merryll Manning mystery series is written by John Howard Reid.

Merryll Manning was born in South Wales, Australia in 1943 and lived there until he was twelve. In 1955, the Mannings moved to to the high country of Texas, where Merryll's father established a small trucking business. The work was hard and even dangerous, but it paid sufficiently well to send young Merryll Manning through college and university.

After graduating with a law degree, Merryll Manning moved to Miami, Florida where he joined the police force. He soon gained employment as the police liaison officer in the D.A.’s office.