Kjell Hallbing (5 November 1934, in

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

– 6 May 2004, in

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...

) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

author of Western books. Under the pseudonym Louis Masterson, he wrote a series of books about the fictitious Texas Ranger (and later U.S. Marshal) ''

Morgan Kane Morgan Kane is a fictional western character and antihero, created by Kjell Hallbing under the pseudonym Louis Masterson. The Morgan Kane series has become the biggest success in modern Norwegian leisure reading literature. The 83 books in the ser ...

'' during 1966–1978. The 83 Morgan Kane books have sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Masterson's books ''El Gringo'' and ''El Gringo's Revenge'' will be the basis of a Hollywood movie in 2017. He has also written another nine-book series known as the Diablo- and Diablito books. Earlier in his career Hallbing used the pseudonyms Ward Cameron, Leo Manning, Lee Morgan and Colin Hawkins. His debut, ''Ubåt-kontakt'', was released in 1961, written under his real name. The same year he released his first book set in the old West, ''Portrett av en revolvermann'' ("Portrait of a Gunslinger"). In addition Kjell Hallbing was an avid weapons collector, resulting in his collection being one of the largest privately owned weapons collections in Norway at the time of his death. He also owned a little house at Bolkesjø, where he actually wrote most of the books in the Morgan Kane series. Other "heroes" Hallbing/Masterson wrote about included Jesse Rawlins, Owen Metzgar and

Clay Allison Robert A. Clay Allison (September 2, 1841 – July 1, 1887) was a cattle rancher, cattle broker, and sometimes gunfighter of the American Old West. He fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. Allison had a reputation for violence, having s ...

. Before he started to write full-time in 1969, Hallbing worked as a bank employee. He is buried at Oslo Western Civil Cemetery.

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20th-century Norwegian writers Western (genre) writers Collectors 1934 births 2004 deaths Writers from Bærum {{Norway-writer-stub