voelker wrote his first story, "lost all night in a swamp with a bear" at age 12. he started his professional writing career in 1933 when he returned to ishpeming from chicago. his first published piece was a short story called "iron" that appeared in the february 1934 issue of "american scene". he assumed a pen name, "robert traver", the first name from a brother who died serving with the u.s. navy in world war i, and the last name from his mother's maiden name. he used a pseudonym, because, in his words, he "didn't think the taxpayers would fancy [him] doing [his] scribbling on their time." his first novel, "troubleshooter" was published in 1943. he wrote by hand on yellow legal pads so that he could edit his work as he went. in 1951, his second novel, " danny and the boys" was published followed by "small town d.a." in 1954. these three were autobiographical in nature, focusing on legal themes; they did not sell very well.