Frederick H. Costello

Frederick Hankerson Costello (September 24, 1851 -1921) was an author of adventure novels. Born and raised in Bangor, Maine, Costello specialized in nautical fiction, but made at least one early contribution to the genre later called prehistoric fiction with his Sure-Dart of 1909. His books were normally pitched to a young adult audience. Costello's 'day-job', at which he worked for 30 years, was as Bangor manager for the national credit-reporting firm R.G. Dunn.

The Boston Globe reported in 1910 that Costello owned a talking crow, who could say 'papa', 'mama', 'what' and "a number of other short words".