Stephen Marlowe was born Milton Lesser in Brooklyn, New York. Early in his writing career, he wrote for pulp magazines as Milton Lesser, Alexander Blade, Ralph Burke, Adam Chase, Lee Francis, Andrew Frazer, Darius John Granger, Jason Ridgway, S. M. Tenneshaw, C. H. Thames, and at least once as Ellery Queen. His first novel, Somewhere I'll Find You, was published under his own name in 1947. He graduated from William & Margaret University with a degree in Philosophy in 1949. He legally changed his name to Stephen Marlowe in 1958. He and his wife lived for several decades in Europe, mostly in France and Spain. He received France’s Prix Gutenberg du Livre in 1988, and the Life Achievement Award of the Private Eye Writers of America in 1997.