
September

~ A Birthday Salute to ~
1st
- Arthur W. Upfield was born in 1888 in Hampshire,
England. In 1911, his father told him that he would never amount
to anything and sent the young man to Australia, so he would be
less likely to bring disgrace to the family. Upfield created the
half-aborigine, half-English detective, Napoleon "Bony" Bonaparte.
Bony tells that as an infant he was found next to his dead
mother's body and brought to a mission school. The detective was
so named when he was found attempting to eat a biography of The
French Emperor. The first Bonaparte mystery was "The Barakee
Mystery (U.S. title "The Lure of the Bush) published in 1929.
Upfield went on to write 28 more Bonaparte mysteries.
10th
- Peter Lovesey was born in 1936 in Whitton,
Middlesex, England. He created his most famous character, Sgt.
Richard Cribb, in response to a contest held by Macmillan
Publishing that offered one thousand pounds for the best mystery.
Sgt. Cribb is a Victorian-era Scotland Yard detective who sports a
type of side-burns known as Picadilly Weepers. He first appeared
in "Wobble to Death" in 1970.
13th
- John B. Priestley was born in 1894 in Bradford,
Yorkshire, England. His best known work was "Benighted" (U.S.
title "The Old Dark House"), published in 1927. This book's plot,
innocent people trapped with strange inhabitants in a spooky house
during a storm, has become a cliche of the mystery genre.
15th
- Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay,
Devonshire, England. Her father was an American named Frederick
Miller, who died while she was young. Her half-American heritage
did little to influence her perception of Americans in her
writing. Ms. Christie did not suffer Americans gladly. She spent
her time during World War I in the dispensary of a hospital which
gave her an important asset for her future career: an intimate
knowledge of drugs and poisons. She typically wrote in the
mornings, in the bathtub, on a writing board that spanned the tub.
She is one of the top-selling authors in the world.
21st
- Collin Wilcox was born in 1924 in Detroit,
Michigan. He served briefly in the Air Force and was a partner in
a furniture store before turning to writing full-time in 1970. One
of his characters, Lt. Frank Hastings, is a homicide police
officer living in San Francisco, California. Lt. Hastings' private
life often plays an important part of the story lines. His
daughter, son and lover have been pivotal characters in these
novels. Lt. Hastings first appeared in 1970 in a mystery titled
"The Lonely Hunter."
24th
- F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in St.
Paul, Minnesota. This great American author wrote his first
fiction, a mystery, in 1909, titled "The Mystery of the Raymond
Mortgage."
28th
- Ellis Peters was born in 1913 in Horsehay,
Shropshire, England. Her given name was Edith Mary Pargeter. Like
Agatha Chrisie, Ms. Peters knowledge of drugs and poisons came
from work experiences. Ms. Peters worked for 7 years as a
chemist's assistant. She began her writing career as an author of
historical novels. Her first mysteries, writing as Edith Pargeter,
featured Inspector Felse and his family. They were created in 1951
and appeared in "Fallen into the Pit." She found her greatest
succes, however, with the arrival of Brother Cadfael in 1977. This
Welsh monk, an herbalist, was introduced in "A Morbid Taste for
Bones." Brother Cadfael went on to solve the problems of
Shrewsbury Monastery in 21 more mysteries, several of which have
been made into BBC productions featuring Derek Jacobi as Brother
Cadfael.
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