Armitage Trail (July 18, 1902, Madison, Nebraska – October 10, 1930, Los Angeles, California) was an American crime writer best known for his 1929 novel Scarface, depicting the rise of gangster Al Capone, which was adapted into the 1932 film Scarface directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hughes. The film was loosely remade as 1983's Scarface.

Born as Maurice Coons, he began writing at the age of sixteen, and wrote a number of detective stories for magazines. He was paid $25,000 for the rights for Scarface and helped adapt it for the screen. He also wrote the 1929 novel on which the 1932 film The Thirteenth Guest was based. He died suddenly, in 1930, aged 28, from a heart attack, at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles. [wikipedia]