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John Creasey
Quotes
His 28 pseudonyms
Praise
 

A Profile: 
                     John Creasey (1908-1973), an English author, born in Southfields, Surrey became one of the best-known writers of detective stories of the 1900's. He was the second of the sixth children of Ruth  and Joseph Creasey, a poor coach maker. Educated in London at Fulham College and Sloane School, from 1923 to 1935, did jobs as factory worker. His first book was published in 1930 and his first detective novel was Seven Times Seven published in 1932.From 1935, he devoted all his time to writing and in 1937 alone, 29 of his books were published.  He published more detective fiction than any other writer of his time--562  novels exactly written under 28 names. Most critics consider Creasey' s stories uneven in quality but have praised his best ones for their fast-paced action and clever plots. 

Creasey created several detectives. Under his own name, he wrote three separate series of novels about Inspector Roger West of Scotland Yard and two amateur detectives, Dr. Stanislaus Palfrey and Richard Rollison. Rollison is known as the Toff, an English slang word for a stylishly dressed man. Perhaps Creasey's most popular detective is Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard. Under the name of J. J. Marric, Creasey wrote the Gideon series, the best example of the British police procedural novel. Creasey's other pen names include Gordon Ashe, Norman Deane, Michael Halliday, Kyle Hunt, and Jeremy York. Creasey was born in the county of Surrey.

Beside detective novels, Creasey even wrote plays, short stories and juvenile books. In 1953, he played a major role in the establishment of the British Crime Writers Association. He won the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1962. Creasey was married four times. Two of his sons, Martin and Richard, became series characters in his books. He died on June 9, 1973. His American wife Jeanne wrote historical western novels.

Quotable Quotes:

"How many words a day do I write? Between six and seven thousand. And how many hours does that take? Three on a good day, as high as thirteen on a bad one" 

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Pseudonyms: 

Gordon Ashe, M.E.Cooce, Margaret Cooce, Henry St. John Cooper, Norman Deane, Elise Fecamps, Robert Caine Frazer, Patrick Gill, Michael Halliday, Charles Hogarth, Brian Hope, Colin Hughes, Kyle Hunt, Abel Mann, Peter Manton, J.J. Marric, James Marsden, Richard Martin, Rodney Mattheson, Anthony Morton, Ken Ranger, William K. Reilly, Tex Riley, Jeremy York

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Praise:

In 1987, mystery writer H.R.F Keating included Gideon's Week in his list of 100 Best Crime and Mystery books  ever published.

"You could apply that label to the whole book. And it is not as derogatory as you might think. There is a certain triteness, yes, but there is also a great deal of simple, detailed truth. And it has a powerful cumulative effect." 
                                                                                            -from Crime & Mystery: the 100 Best Books by H.R.F. Keating, 1987

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