Creasey, John

(British, 1908–73)

Creasey produced more books than any other twentieth-century writer, publishing over 600 under pseudonyms too numerous to list. Among many others, he wrote police procedurals as J. J. Marric, light adventures featuring The Baron as Anthony Morton, psychological crime stories as Michael Halliday and the thriller-style Inspector West novels as John Creasey. However, the writing is never a match for his clever ideas and exceptionally tight plotting. Perhaps the most enduring of his work is the J. J. Marric series, featuring Scotland Yard detective George Gideon. With their multiple storylines and the continuing soap opera of Gideon's family life, they paint a fascinating picture of London life in the 1950s and 1960s. Gideon's Day (1955) was filmed starring Jack Hawkins, and it's clear that books such as Gideon's Fire (1961) and Gideon's Ride (1963) influenced the style of television police series such as Dixon of Dock Green and Z-Cars.

Evan Hunter (writing as Ed McBain), John Harvey, Colin Dexter  VM