One of America's greatest Western storytellers,Β Wayne D. OverholserΒ was born September 4, 1906 in Pomeroy, Washington and died August 27, 1996 in Boulder, Colorado. Overholser won the 1953 First Spur Award for best novel forΒ LawmanΒ using the pseudonym Lee Leighton. In 1955 he won the 1954 (second) Spur Award forΒ The Violent Land. He also used the pseudonyms John S. Daniels, Dan J. Stevens and Joseph Wayne.