Elusion Aforethought: The Life and Writing of Anthony Berkeley Cox

Product Description

Turnbull, Malcolm J.

From Library Journal

Cox was a Golden Age detective novelist who was one of the cofounders (with Dorothy L. Sayers) of the Detection Club. He wrote under his own name and under the pseudonyms Anthony Berkeley and Francis Iles. No previous books have been written about Cox, in part because he was, in the Australian academic Turnbull's words, preoccupied with anonymity, making the biographer's work difficult. Cox was particularly well known as an early practitioner of the inverted detective story (Malice Aforethought and Before the Fact, both published under Francis Iles). His detective creations include Roger Sheringham, Mr. Chitterwick, and Inspector Moresby (characters written under Anthony Berkeley). Turnbull offers more a literary than a personal biography, with only one chapter outlining Cox's life and the remaining chapters devoted to descriptions of the literary works produced under each of Cox's pseudonyms. Additionally, Turnbull describes critical responses to Cox's works and postulates on their importance in the development of crime fiction. Recommended where Golden Age crime fiction is of interest.?Denise Johnson, Bradley Univ. Lib., Peoria, Ill. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.