Darold came to Arizona after graduation from college. While on active duty with the U.S. Air Force, he began writing short stories for children and young adults. After the military, he experimented with various genres and finally settled on mystery fiction. He wrote two western mysteries under the pen name Fanny Price to see if westerns written by women would sell. They do. His other titles are written under the name of D.L. Roberts. Roberts was his birth surname until age five, when the Graves adopted him. He uses his birth name to pay respects to
those who bore him.