His novels drew on his own experience as a doctor and his interest in history and the Bible.

When he was about age 5, his family moved to a farm near Berea, North Carolina.

He began writing fiction in 1935 while a physician at Riverside Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, paying off a $60 typewriter at $5 per month.

He rewrote the manuscript of That None Should Die, a semi-autobiographical story of a young doctor, six times before Doubleday accepted it.

Other books by Slaughter include The Purple Quest; Surgeon, U.S.A.; Tomorrow's Miracle; and The Scarlet Cord.