Monte Barrett

Percy Montgomery "Monte" Barrett was born on 19 June, 1897, at Mitchell, Indiana, the son of Edward W. and Clara Barrett. His father worked as a superintendent at an insurance company in Mitchell. Monte Barrett was a newspaperman, author and cartoonist. He began in Texas working on papers in San Antonio, Waco, Wichita Falls, Austin and Houston. Later he joined the staff of the Chicago Herald-Examiner as a feature editor. He was the author of numerous murder mysteries and historical novels, many of which were set in his adopted home state of Texas. Some of his more popular titles were: "Murder at Belle Camille," "Murder Offstage," "Smoke up the Valley," "Sun in Their Eyes," "Tempered Blade," "Our Wondrous Trip," "The Pelham Murder Case" and "The Wedding March Murder". Barrett had also created, with the artist Frank Ellis, the comic strip character, "Jane Arden," considered the original "spunky girl reporter," and prototype for such comic strip heroines as Brenda Starr and Lois Lane. Monte Barrett died on 8 October, 1949, at Presbyterian hospital in New York, after a failed operation. He was survived by his wife, the former Mary Helen Caruth, whom he had married on 12 July, 1926, at San Antonio.