Vincent Starrett, 1886-1974, was a journalist, author, and bibliophile known for his biography of Sherlock Holmes, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1933), as well as his poetry and horror/fantasy stories published in pulp magazines. Starrett was born in Toronto and grew up in Chicago. He worked as a journalist for the Chicago Daily News from 1907 to 1916, and afterwards supported himself by writing fiction. He published horror and fantasy stories in the pulp magazine Weird Tales and detective fiction featuring Chicago sleuth Jimmie Lavender in the pulp magazine Short Stories. Starrett originated Jimmie Lavender in 1925 and continued writing stories about him for the next 40 years. A member of the Mystery Writers of America, Starrett received the organizations first Edgar Award in 1958, making him a Grand Master of mystery fiction. He became president of the Mystery Writers of America in 1961. He was also a member of the Baker Street Irregulars, the Sherlock Holmes literary society. Starrett popularized Chinese detective fiction in the West through his essay "Some Chinese Detective Stories," published in his Bookman's Holiday (1942).

Starrett was also a book collector and bibliophile. He collected literary first editions, Sherlockiana, and detective fiction. He wrote anecdotal, accessible essays on bibliographic topics, collected in Books Alive and Bookman's Holiday: The Private Satisfactions of an Incurable Collector (1942). From 1942 until 1967, he wrote the "Books Alive" column for The Chicago Tribune.