Jack Lynch modeled many aspects of Peter Bragg on himself. He graduated with a BA in journalism from the University of Washington and reported for several Seattle-area newspapers, and later others in Iowa and Kansas. He ended up in San Francisco, where he briefly worked for a brokerage house and as a bartender in Sausalito, before joining the reporting staff of the San Francisco Chronicle. He left the newspaper after many years to write the eight Bragg novels, earning one Edgar and two Shamus nominations and a loyal following of future crime writers. He died in 2008 at age 78.