The Toff series George Gideon series (as J.J. Marric) Inspector Roger West series The Baron series (as Anthony Morton) Doctor Emmanuel Cellini series Dr. Palfrey series
John CreaseyMBE (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973)[1] was an English author known mostly for detective and crime novels but who also wrote science fiction, romance and westerns. He wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms.
He created several ongoing characters, such as The Toff (The Honourable Richard Rollison), Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, Inspector Roger West, The Baron (John Mannering), Doctor Emmanuel Cellini and Doctor Stanislaus Alexander Palfrey. Gideon of Scotland Yard was the basis for the television series Gideon's Way and for the John Ford movie Gideon's Day (1958). The Baron character was made into a 1960s TV series starring Steve Forrest as The Baron.[2]
Life and career
John Creasey was born in Southfields, London Borough of Wandsworth (formerly part of Surrey), to a working-class family. He was the seventh of nine children of Ruth and Joseph Creasey, a poor coach maker. Creasey was educated at Fulham Elementary School and Sloane School, both in London. From 1923 to 1935 he worked various clerical, factory, and sales jobs while trying to establish himself as a writer. After a number of rejections, Creasey's first book was published in 1930. His first crime novel, Seven Times Seven, was published in January 1932 by Melrose. It was a story about a gang of criminals. In 1935 he became a full-time writer. In 1937 alone, twenty-nine of his books were published. A phenomenally fast writer, he once suggested that he could be shut up in a glass-box and write there a whole book.[2]
In 1938, he created the character The Toff with the first novel Introducing the Toff. The Toff series would continue for 59 novels from 1938 to 1978. The Toff, The Honourable Richard Rollison, is an aristocrat and an amateur sleuth. ("Toff" is a British slang expression for an aristocrat.)
During World War II, he created the character of Dr. Stanislaus Alexander Palfrey, a British secret service agent, who forms Z5, a secret underground group that owes its allegiance to the Allies. The first novel of the Dr. Palfrey 34-book series was Traitor's Doom, published in 1942 by John Long Ltd., while the last was The Whirlwind in 1979.
Several adaptations were made of Creasey's novels. On film these included: Salute the Toff (1952, also known as Brighthaven Express in the USA), Hammer the Toff (1952), John Ford's Gideon's Day (1958, also known as Gideon of Scotland Yard in the USA), released by Columbia Pictures, and Cat & Mouse (1958, also known as The Desperate Men in the USA), written as Michael Halliday. On television, a series based on the Commander George Gideon character, Gideon's Way, was produced from 1964 to 1965 by ITC Entertainment and starring John Gregson in the title rôle. ITC followed this with a version of Creasey's The Baron character (1965–66), starring Steve Forrest. Between 1967 and 1971 the BBC produced a radio version of Creasey's Roger West stories with actor Patrick Allen in the title role as Scotland YardChief Inspector Roger "Handsome" West, with Allen's real-life wife Sarah Lawson playing the role of West's wife Janet.
In 1962, Creasey won an Edgar Award for Best Novel, from the Mystery Writers of America (MWA), for Gideon's Fire, written under the pseudonym J. J. Marric. In 1969 he received the MWA's greatest honour, the Grand Master Award. He served one term as president of the organization in 1966, one of only three non-American writers to be so honoured.
Creasey had as many publishers as he had pseudonyms, but enjoyed enduring relations with John Long and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. After he finally broke into the American market in the 1950s, many of his books were released by Harper and Scribners; Walker reissued many older titles in the revised editions.
During the 1940s, Creasey was living at "Cattistock", Fernlea Avenue, Ferndown, Wimborne in Dorset.[3] He died at his home New Hall, which is now New Hall Hospital, Bodenham near Salisbury, Wiltshire in 1973.[4]
John's son Richard Creasey is an author and television producer, having served both in the private sector and at the BBC, and as the British producer of Patrick Watson's worldwide Canadian television documentary series The Struggle for Democracy. He has developed his father's "Doctor Palfrey" series by penning a new series of techno-thrillers around the character of Doctor Thomas Palfrey. [citation needed]
Crime Writers' Association (CWA)
In 1953, John Creasey founded the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) in the UK. The CWA New Blood Dagger is awarded in his memory, for first books by previously unpublished writers; sponsored by BBC Audiobooks, it includes a prize of £1000. This award was known previously as the John Creasey Memorial Dagger.
Pseudonyms
His pseudonyms include:
Gordon Ashe
Henry St. John Cooper
Credo
Norman Deane
Robert Caine Frazer
Patrick Gill
Michael Halliday
Charles Hogarth (with Ian Bowen)
Brian Hope
Colin Hughes
Kyle Hunt
Abel Mann
Peter Manton
J.J. Marric
James Marsden
Richard Martin
Rodney Mattheson
Anthony Morton
Henry St. John
Martin Richard
Jeremy York
In addition, he wrote Westerns under the names of Ken Ranger, Tex Riley, William K. Reilly, and Jimmy Wilde. He also wrote Romantic novels under the names of Margaret Cooke, M.E. Cooke, and Elise Fecamps.
Political career
Creasey was a longtime committed Liberal party member though he later became an independent.[8] He said that he had been organising Liberal street-corner meetings from the age of 12. At the time of the 1945 general election Creasey was Chairman of the local Liberal Association in Bournemouth where his publicity and writing skills were instrumental in helping the Liberals to an atypical second place. He was adopted as prospective parliamentary candidate for Bournemouth West in 1946 and appeared on the platform at the 1947 Liberal Assembly, which was held in Bournemouth.
He fought Bournemouth West in the 1950 general election, coming third. He became increasingly unhappy with the party through the 1950s though and disagreed so much with the party's policy concerning the Suez Crisis he resigned his membership. However, after the Orpington by-election success of 1962 and impressed with Jo Grimond's leadership of the party he seemed to be reviving his Liberal activity. By January 1966 however, he had founded the All Party Alliance, a pressure group which sought to unite the best people from all parties.
The platform of the All Party Alliance was based on running industry by councils made up of workers, managers, investors and government to avoid industrial action, with a mind to eventually eliminate income tax.[8]
Creasey fought by-elections as an independent in support of this idea around 1967 at Nuneaton, Brierley Hill and Manchester Gorton. He also fought Oldham West during the by-election of June 1968. He did well for an independent with the first-past-the-post system, having limited resources and often little time to campaign.
In Oldham West he beat his old party's candidate into fourth place. He could not seem to shed his affection for the Liberal party however, congratulating Birmingham Ladywood by-election victor Wallace Lawler in July 1969 and attending the 1969 party assembly albeit to promote All Party Alliance aims.
In 1972 he relaunched the All Party Alliance as Evolution to Democracy (Evo). Evo merged with Colin Campion's "The Organisation", a Yorkshire-based party which advocated coalition governments based on the proportion of votes cast for each party, to form the "Independent Democratic Alliance", which soon faded after Creasey's death, and its poor performance in the February 1974 general election.[9]
John Creasey features in the Look At Life film I Protest! where he is seen collecting signatures for a petition to lobby the government to take action against the number of deaths due to road accidents.
The Young Gallery in Salisbury holds a collection of books, personal affects and objects relating to John Creasey as part of its collection. This was previously known as the John Creasey Museum, but now comes under the Young & Creasey Gallery Trust. [10]
The series was continued after Creasey's death by William Vivian Butler ("as J.J. Marric"):
Gideon's Force (1978)
Gideon's Law (1981)
Gideon's Way (1983)
Gideon's Raid (1986)
Gideon's Fear (1990)
Dr. Palfrey (Z5) series, writing as John Creasey
Traitor's Doom (November 1942)
The Valley of Fear (May 1943, also known as The Perilous Country)
The Legion of the Lost (November 1943)
Dangerous Quest (1944)
Death in the Rising Sun (1945)
The Hounds of Vengeance (1945)
Shadow of Doom (1946)
The House of the Bears (1946)
Dark Harvest (1947)
The Wings of Peace (1948)
The Sons of Satan (1948)
The Dawn of Darkness (1949)
The League of Light (1949)
The Man Who Shook the World (1950)
The Prophet of Fire (1951)
The Children of Hate (1952, also known as The Killers of Innocence)
The Touch of Death (1954)
The Mists of Fear (1955)
The Flood (1956)
The Plague of Silence (1958)
The Drought (1959, also known as Dry Spell)
The Terror (1962)
The Depths (1963)
The Sleep (1964)
The Inferno (1965)
The Famine (1967)
The Blight (1968)
The Oasis (1969)
The Smog (1970)
The Unbegotten (1971)
The Insulators (1972)
The Voiceless Ones (1973)
The Thunder-Maker (1976)
The Whirlwind (1979)
Four additional Z5 stories have been written by the author's son Richard; in these, the central figure is Thomas Palfrey, the doctor's grandson: Eternity's Sunrise (2012); Hard Targets (2013, an omnibus of three shorter adventures – "Wings of Fear", "Burning Night" and "Deadly Sleep").
The Department Z series, as John Creasey
The Death Miser (1933)
Redhead (1933)
First Came a Murder (1934)
Death 'Round the Corner (1935)
The Mark of the Crescent (1935)
Thunder in Europe (1936)
The Terror Trap (1936)
Carriers of Death (1937)
Days of Danger (1937)
Death Stands By (1938)
Menace! (1938)
Murder Must Wait (1939)
Panic! (1939)
Death by Night (1940)
The Island of Peril (1940)
Sabotage (1941)
Go Away Death (1941)
The Day of Disaster (1942)
Prepare for Action (1942)
No Darker Crime (1943)
Dark Peril (1944)
The Peril Ahead (1946)
The League of Dark Men (1947)
The Department of Death (1949)
The Enemy Within (1950)
Dead or Alive (1951)
A Kind of Prisoner (1954)
The Black Spiders (1957)
Chief Inspector Roger West series, as John Creasey
Inspector West Takes Charge (1942)
Inspector West Leaves Town (1943, also known as Go Away to Murder)
Triumph for Inspector West (1948, also known as The Case Against Paul Raeburn)
Inspector West Kicks Off (1949, also known as Sport for inspector West)
Inspector West Alone (1950)
Inspector West Cries Wolf (1950, also known as The Creepers; adapted for BBC Radio starring Patrick Allen)
A Case for Inspector West (1951, also known as The Figure in the Dusk)
Puzzle for Inspector West (1951, also known as The Dissemblers)
Inspector West at Bay (1952, also known as The Blind Spot and The Case of the Acid Throwers; adapted for BBC Radio starring Patrick Allen)
A Gun for Inspector West (1953, also known as Give a Man a Gun)
Send Inspector West (1953, slightly rewritten as Send Superintendent West)
A Beauty for Inspector West (1954, also known as The Beauty Queen Killer, So Young, So Cold, So Fair; adapted for BBC Radio starring Patrick Allen)
Inspector West Makes Haste (1955, also known as Murder Makes Haste, The Gelignite Gang, Night of the Watchman; adapted for BBC Radio starring Patrick Allen)
Two for Inspector West (1955, also known as Murder: One, Two, Three, Murder Tips the Scales)
Parcels for Inspector West (1956, also known as Death of a Postman)
A Prince for Inspector West (1956, also known as Death of an Assassin)
Accident for Inspector West (1957, also known as Hit and Run)
Find Inspector West (1957, also known as The Trouble at Saxby's and Doorway to Death)
Murder, London – New York (1958)
Strike for Death (1958, also known as The Killing Strike)
Death of a Racehorse (1959)
The Case of the Innocent Victims (1959)
Murder on the Line (1960)
Death in Cold Print (1961)
The Scene of the Crime (1961)
Policeman's Dread (1962)
Hang the Little Man (1963)
Look Three Ways at Murder (1964)
Murder, London – Australia (1965)
Murder, London – South Africa (1966)
The Executioners (1967)
So Young to Burn (1968)
Murder, London – Miami (1969)
A Part for a Policeman (1970)
Alibi (1971, also known as Alibi for Inspector West)
A Splinter of Glass (1972)
The Theft of Magna Carta, also known as Theft of Magna Carta)
The Baron series (under the pseudonym "Anthony Morton")
Meet the Baron (1937; U.S. title The Man in the Blue Mask)
The Baron Returns (1937; U.S. title The Return of Blue Mask)
The Baron Again (1938; U.S. title Salute Blue Mask)
The Baron at Bay (1938; U.S. title Blue Mask at Bay)
Alias the Baron (1939; U.S. title Alias Blue Mask)
The Baron at Large (1939; U.S. title Challenge Blue Mask)
Versus the Baron (1940; U.S. title Blue Mask Strikes Again)
Call for the Baron (1940; U.S. title Blue Mask Victorious)
The Baron Comes Back (1943)
A Case for the Baron (1945)
Reward for the Baron (1945)
Career for the Baron (1946)
The Baron and the Beggar (1947)
A Rope for the Baron (1948)
Blame the Baron (1948)
Books for the Baron (1949)
Cry for the Baron (1950)
Trap the Baron (1950)
Attack the Baron (1951)
Shadow the Baron (1951)
Warn the Baron (1952)
The Baron Goes East (1953)
The Baron in France (1953)
Danger for the Baron (1953)
The Baron Goes Fast (1954)
Nest-Egg for the Baron (1954; U.S. title Deaf, Dumb and Blonde)
Help from the Baron (1955)
Hide the Baron (1956)
Frame the Baron (1957; U.S. title The Double Frame)
Red Eye for the Baron (1958; U.S. title Blood Red)
Black for the Baron (1959; U.S. title If Anything Happens to Hester)
Salute for the Baron (1960)
A Branch for the Baron (1961; U.S. title The Baron Branches Out)
Salute for the Baron (1960)
A Branch for the Baron (1961; U.S. title The Baron Branches Out)
Bad for the Baron (1962; U.S. title The Baron and the Stolen Legacy)
A Sword for the Baron (1963; U.S. title The Baron and the Mogul Swords)
The Baron on Board (1964)
The Baron and the Chinese Puzzle (1965)
Sport for the Baron (1966)
Affair for the Baron (1967)
The Baron and the Missing Old Masters (1968)
The Baron and the Unfinished Portrait (1969)
Last Laugh for the Baron (1970)
The Baron Goes A-Buying (1971)
The Baron and the Arrogant Artist (1972)
Burgle the Baron (1973)
The Baron, King-Maker (1975)
Love for the Baron (1979)
The Bruce Murdoch series (under the pseudonym "Norman Deane")
Secret Errand (1939)
Dangerous Journey (1939)
Unknown Mission (1940)
The Withered Man (1940)
I Am the Withered Man (1941)
Where is the Withered Man (1942)
The Liberator series (as "Norman Deane")
Return to Adventure (1943)
Gateway to Escape (1944)
Come Home to Crime (1945)
The Mark Kilby series (under the pseudonym "Robert Caine Frazer")
Mark Kilby Solves a Murder (1959; also known as R.I.S.C. and The Timid Tycoon)
Mark Kilby and the Secret Syndicate (1960)
Mark Kilby and the Miami Mob (1960)
Mark Kilby Stands Alone (1962)
Mark Kilby Takes a Risk (1962)
The Hollywood Hoax (1964)
The Superintendent Folly series (under the pseudonym "Jeremy York")
In the asterisked titles, Folly was added for the revised editions of novels originally written as standalones.
Foul Play Suspected (1942) *
Murder in the Family (1944)*
Crime With Many Voices (1945) *
No Crime More Cruel (1945) *
Find the Body (1945)
Murder Came Late (1946)
Mystery Motive (1947) *
Run Away to Murder (1947)
First a Murder (1947)
Close the Door on Murder (1948)
Let's Kill Uncle Lionel (1948)
The Gallows are Waiting (1948) *
The Fane Brothers series
Written under the pseudonym "Michael Halliday" for UK publication (1951–1955), but published under the pseudonym "Jeremy York" in the US (all in 1972).
Take a Body (1951)
Murder in the Stars (1953)
Man on the Run (1953)
Lame Dog Murder (1955)
The Doctor Cellini series
Written under the pseudonym "Michael Halliday" for UK publication (1965–1975), but published under the pseudonym "Kyle Hunt" for US.
Cunning as a Fox (1965)
Wicked as the Devil (1966)
Sly as a Serpent (1967)
Cruel as a Cat (1968)
Too Good to Be True (1969)
A Period of Evil (1970 in UK, 1971 in US)
As Lonely as the Damned (1971 in UK, 1972 in US)
As Empty as Hate (1972)
As Merry as Hell (1972 in UK, 1973 in US)
This Man Did I Kill? (1974)
The Man Who Was Not Himself (1975)
Standalone novels (as "Jeremy York")
By Persons Unknown (1941)
Murder Unseen (1943)
No Alibi (1944)
Yesterday's Murder (1945)
Wilful Murder (1946)
Death to My Killer (1950)
Sentence of Death (1950)
Voyage of Death (1952; also known as Voyage with Murder)
Safari with Murder (1953; also known as Safari with Fear)
So Soon to Die (1955)
Seeds of Murder (1956)
Sight of Death (1956)
My Brother's Killer (1958)
Hide and Kill (1959)
To Kill or to Die (1960; also known as To Kill or Die)
Standalone novels (written under the pseudonym "Peter Manton")
The Greyvale School Mystery (1937)
Murder Manor (1937)
Stand By for Danger (1937)
Circle of Justice (1938)
Three Days' Terror (1938)
The Crime Syndicate (1939)
Death Looks On (1039)
Murder in the Highlands (1939)
The Midget Marvel (1940)
Policeman's Triumph (1948)
Thief in the Night (1950)
No Escape from Murder (1953)
The Charity Killers (1954)
The Crooked Killer (1954)
The Patrick Dawlish Series (written under the pseudonym "Gordon Ashe")
The Speaker (1939)
Death on Demand (1939)
Terror by Day (1940)
Secret Murder (1940)
'Ware Danger (1941)
Murder Most Foul (1941)
There Goes Death (1942)
Death in High Places (1942)
Death in Flames (1943)
Two Men Missing (1943)
Rogues Rampant (1944)
Death on the Move (1945)
Invitation to Adventure (1946)
Here is Danger (1946)
Give Me Murder (1947)
Murder Too Late (1947)
Engagement with Death (1948)
Dark Mystery (1948)
A Puzzle in Pearls (1949)
Kill or Be Killed (1949)
Murder with Mushrooms (1950)
The Dark Circle (1951)
Death in Diamonds (1951)
Missing or Dead (1951)
Death in a Hurry (1952)
Sleepy Death (1953)
The Long Search (1953; U.S. title Drop Dead, 1954)
Death in the Trees (1954)
Double for Death (1954)
The Kidnapped Child (1955; also known as The Snatch)
Day of Fear (1956)
Wait for Death (1957)
Come Home to Death (1958; U.S. title The Pack of Lies, 1959)
Elope to Death (1959)
Don't Let Him Kill (1960; U.S. title The Man Who Laughed at Murder, 1960)
The Crime Haters (1961)
Rogues' Ransom (1962)
Death from Below (1963)
The Big Call (1964)
A Promise of Diamonds (1964)
A Taste of Treasure (1966)
A Clutch of Coppers (1967)
A Shadow of Death (1968)
A Scream Of Murder (1969)
A Nest of Traitors (1970)
A Rabble of Rebels (1971)
A Life for a Death (1972)
A Herald of Doom (1973)
A Blast of Trumpets (1974)
A Plague of Demons (1975)
Standalone novels as "Gordon Ashe")
Who Was the Jester? (1940)
The Man Who Stayed Alive (1955)
No Need to Die (1956)
You Bet Your Life (1957)
Standalone novels as "Abel Mann"
Danger Woman (1966)
Westerns (various pseudonyms)
Gun-Smoke Range (1938; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
One-Shot Marriott (1938; under the pseudonym "Ken Ranger")
Two-Gun Girl (1938; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Roaring Guns (1939; under the pseudonym "Ken Ranger")
Gunshot Mesa (1939; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Range War (1939; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Two Gun Texan (1939; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Gun Feud (1940; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Masked Riders (1940; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Rustler's Range (1940; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
The Shootin' Sheriff (1940; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Stolen Range (1940; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Outlaw's Vengeance (1941; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
War on the Lazy-K (1941; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Death Canyon (1941; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Guns on the Range (1942; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Guns over Blue Lake (1942; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Riders of Dry Gulch (1943; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Range Justice (1943; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Long John Rides the Range (1944; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Outlaw Hollow (1944; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Miracle Range (1945; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Hidden Range (1946; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
The Secrets of the Range (1946; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Forgotten Range (1947; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Trigger Justice (1948; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Bullet Justice (1949; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Lynch Hollow (1949; under the pseudonym "Tex Riley")
Outlaw Guns (1949; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Range Vengeance (1953; under the pseudonym "William K. Riley")
Romance novels (various pseudonyms)
For Love's Sake (1934; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Lover of Hate (1936; under the pseudonym "Elise Fecamps")
False Love or True (1937; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Troubled Journey (1937; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Love's Triumph (1937; under the pseudonym "Elise Fecamps")
True Love (1937; under the pseudonym "Elise Fecamps")
Chains of Love (1937; under the pseudonym "Henry St John Cooper")
Love's Pilgrimage (1937; under the pseudonym "Henry St John Cooper")
A Mannequin's Romance (1938; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Fate's Playthings (1938; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Love Calls Twice (1938; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
The Road to Happiness (1938; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Web of Destiny (1938; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Whose Lover? (1938; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
The Greater Desire (1938; under the pseudonym "Henry St John Cooper")
The Tangled Legacy (1938; under the pseudonym "Henry St John Cooper")
The Turn of Fate (1939; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Crossroads of Love (1939; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Love Comes Back (1939; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Love Triumphant (1939; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
Love's Ordeal (1939; under the pseudonym "Henry St John Cooper")
Love's Journey (1940; under the pseudonym "Margaret Cooke")
The Lost Lover (1940; under the pseudonym "Henry St John Cooper")
John Creasey at Library of Congress, with 212 library catalogue records of works catalogued under his own name and several pseudonyms, and links to many others
As of October 2018, the Library of Congress assigns LCCN to, or identifies, about 20 pseudonyms, and evidently catalogues some works under about 10 of them.
