Arthur Somers Roche was born in Somerville, Massachusetts, to James Jeffry Roche, a prominent Irish-American author, journalist, and diplomat, and Mary Frances Halloran, a native of Massachusetts who sadly passed away in 1885 due to pneumonia, just shy of her thirtieth birthday.
Roche attended The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester and later Boston College, where he earned a law degree in 1904. However, he grew tired of the profession and entered the field of journalism with the New York World in 1906.
By 1910, Roche began contributing short stories to national magazines, and a few years later, he published his first novel, "Loot", in 1916. America's involvement in World War One put his writing career on hold as he served as a captain with the US Army Military Intelligence Division. After the war, Roche became one of the more prolific authors of that period, writing twenty-three novels, numerous short stories, and working on two plays.
Roche often used his adopted home state of Florida as the backdrop for his fast-paced mystery thrillers. In 1921, Governor Thomas G. McCrea of Arkansas was so impressed with Roche's novel "A Day of Faith" that he declared November 21, the day the book was released, a state holiday.
Roche was married twice. His first marriage was to Ethel Kirby Rowell of New York City in 1910, and they had a son named James Jeffrey. However, Ethel passed away around the time of their son's birth in 1915. Roche then married Ethel Pettit of Stuttgart, Arkansas in 1917, and they had a son named Clyde the following year. Ethel was also a writer who survived her husband by thirty-four years.
Arthur Somers Roche passed away from heart disease complicated by pneumonia at his home on Via Bellaria in Palm Beach, Florida, leaving behind his wife and two sons.
