Nicholas Cain is a

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...

and author of action novels.

Military career

Cain was born and raised in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. In 1972, despite a relatively high

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

number of 363, he volunteered for the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, where he served as a

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

military policeman until 1973. He also served as an MP in

Aurora, Colorado Aurora (, ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, Arapahoe, Adams County, Colorado, Adams, and Douglas County, Colorado, Douglas List of counties in Colorado, counti ...

at the

Fitzsimons Army Medical Center Fitzsimons Army Hospital, also known as Fitzsimons General Hospital, renamed Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in 1974, and Fitzsimons Building in 2018 was a U.S. Army facility located on in Aurora, Colorado. The facility opened in 1918 and closed ...

, then in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

with the 281st MPs at Amphoe Sattahip/Vayama, and in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

with the 110th MPs at

Daejeon Daejeon (; ) is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of nearly 1.5 million. Located in a central lowland valley between the Sobaek Mountains and the Geum River, the city is known both as a ...

. In 1975, he left with an honorable

military discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and the ...

and the rank of

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

. He returned to Colorado where he became a

state trooper State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction ...

in north metro Denver and subsequently a city cop in suburban

Thornton, Colorado Thornton is a home rule municipality located in Adams and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 141,867, all in Adams County, at the 2020 United States census, an increase of 19.44% since the 2010 United States cen ...

. During his ten years as a police officer, he worked a variety of assignments, yet none stayed with him as much as his

tour of duty For military personnel, a tour of duty is usually a period of time spent in combat or in a hostile environment. In an army, for instance, soldiers on active duty serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the length of their service commitment. ...

in Vietnam.

Books

Cain's experiences in Vietnam inspired him to write a non-fiction manuscript entitled ''Saigon Alley''. After nearly every publisher in New York City rejected the proposed book,

Zebra Books Zebra Books is an imprint of American publisher Kensington Publishing Corp. As the company's flagship imprint until the late 80s, it currently publishes women's fiction, romantic suspense and bestselling historical, paranormal and contemporary r ...

' Michael Seidman (coincidentally also an ex-MP) offered Cain a four-book contract, but only if he would fictionalize his manuscript and increase the sex and violence. This ultimately became the

cult classic A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

''Saigon Commandos'' series, which, beginning in 1983, ran to 12 books. Book 9 of this series was made into a film, called ''Saigon Commandos'

by

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (April 5, 1926 – May 9, 2024) was an American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he w ...

's Concorde Studios. Cain went on to write the ''War Dogs'' series for Zebra, using the pseudonym Nik Uhernik. He then wrote the first eight books in

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

' ''Chopper-1'' series, under the pseudonym Jack Hawkins. He also penned three books in the

Able Team Able Team is a series of action-adventure novels first published in 1982 by American Gold Eagle publishers. It is a spin-off of the ''Executioner'' series created by Don Pendleton. There were 51 novels in the ''Able Team'' series, plus 2 ''Supe ...

series, which was a spin-off of the immensely popular

Mack Bolan Mack Bolan, alias '' The Executioner'', is a fictional character who has been serialized in 631 novels with sales of more than 200 million books. Created by Don Pendleton, Bolan made his first appearance on the printed page in ''The Executioner ...

Exceutioner novels. He wrote the final installment in the ''Vietnam Ground Zero'' series, (published as ''Zebra Cube'' in the ''Heroes'' trilogy), using the pseudonym Robert Baxter. then created and wrote the six-book series ''Little Saigon'' (only four books of which were published by Lynx Books of New York before Lynx folded).

Private investigator

After writing over 30 books, Cain pulled the plug on his word processor in 1990 and became a

in Los Angeles. He began teaching th
Learning Annex's
Course #523: ''How To Get Anything on Anybody'' in the mid-1990s, and wrote two investigative manuals to go along with it: ''Trick Questions (And Other Trade Secrets of an L.A. County P.I.)'' and ''So You Wanna Be A Private Eye''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Nicholas Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Writers from Colorado American thriller writers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists American male novelists United States Army soldiers United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War American municipal police officers American state police officers Law enforcement officials from Colorado