James Arthur Crumley was an American author known for his violent hardboiled crime novels, short stories, essays, and screenplays. Described as "one of modern crime writing's best practitioners," he was a patron saint of the post-Vietnam private eye novel, blending styles reminiscent of Raymond Chandler and Hunter S. Thompson.

The Last Good Kiss is considered "the most influential crime novel of the last 50 years." Crumley's debut novel, One to Count Cadence, began as his thesis for a master's degree in creative writing from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1966, set in the Philippines and Vietnam.

His beloved characters include C.W. Sughrue and Milo Milodragovitch, both private investigators with distinct personalities. Crumley's novels have inspired a generation of crime writers, though he never achieved mainstream success.