Lester Dent

Lester Dent's great claim to fame was as the author and creator of Doc Savage, the popular pulp-fiction series that had a revival in the 1960's as a series of paperback books issued by Bantam.  Dent was born in Missouri in 1904, grew up in Wyoming, and then lived and worked in Oklahoma in his twenties.  He started successfully selling stories to pulp magazines in 1929 (just before the events of Cosa Nosferatu).  More information on Dent and his career can be found here.

Just by looking at the above photo, one can get a good idea of why, in Cosa Nosferatu, Ness and the Untouchables hit it off with Dent.  Unlike fellow writer Randolph Carter, Dent is athletic and outgoing.  While Dent never credited Ness and the Untouchables as being an inspiration for Doc Savage and his team of crimefighters, the events of Cosa Nosferatu strongly suggest that to be the case.