In 2015 Grant Tracey turned to writing crime noir. Before that he had published nearly fifty short stories in small literary magazines and story collections. The sensibilities of his Hayden Fuller Mysteries, as well as other noir pieces, are in part indebted to the writings of Raymond Chandler, Samuel Fuller, Mickey Spillane, and Jim Thompson. Grant teaches creative writing and film at the University of Northern Iowa and edits the North American Review. In 2013 he received an Iowa Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. In 2021, he was a recipient of UNI's Graduate College Distinguished Scholar Award. In addition to writing, teaching and editing, Grant has long been active in community theater as both an actor and director. He co-hosts, with Brady Harrison and Ted Morrissey, the podcast A Lesson before Writing.