Fri 11 May 2007
Death Noted: LEONARD LUPTON (1907-2000).
Posted by Steve under Authors , Crime Fiction IV , Obituaries / Deaths Noted , Pulp Fiction[3] Comments
In Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, there is presently no biographical information of any kind for Leonard Lupton, an author known perhaps only to collectors of Graphic paperbacks in the 1950s. I’m referring here to books produced by the Graphic Publishing Company of 240 W. 40th Street, New York, NY, but admittedly the covers could often be graphic, too.
But more about the books (and their covers) in a minute. A couple of recent emails between Al Hubin and Victor Berch have done much to remove some of the anonymity in which Mr. Lupton has been residing all these years.
Al wrote to Victor first, saying,
Victor’s reply, in part:
“[Also] the books Doomsday Ghost, Summer Camp Nurse, and Perilous Kisses are authored by Mary Lupton, which the Copyright Office says is a pseudonym of W. L. Lupton. I found a book of poetry called Poetry at the Angel, edited by Kenneth H. Baldwin, Mary Jane Lupton, Susan Moore and William L. Lupton. It’s possible that Mary Jane Lupton was the daughter of William L. Lupton, since the Copyright Office gives a 1938, birth date for her. Hope that helps.”
There being a complete consensus at this time that the Leonard Lupton found in Social Security records being Leonard Lupton, the author, it’s about time for a list of the books he authored. Adapted from, and updating his entry in CFIV are the following:
LUPTON, (WILLIAM) LEONARD (1907-2000); see pseudonyms Mary Lupton & Chester Warwick
* -The Night of the Owl (Lenox Hill, 1971, hc) Gothic Romance. Mrs. Moreland’s lively daughter could not keep from wishing to go to the pseudo-Swiss chalet known as Alpenstock, reputed to be haunted…
LUPTON, MARY; pseudonym of Leonard Lupton; other pseudonym Chester Warwick
* –The Doomsday Ghost (Avalon, 1984, hc) [Alabama] [A tutor comes to an Alabama estate nicknamed Doomsday Plantation and faces both anger and love.]
* –Fantasy at Midnight (Avalon, 1982, hc)
* –Fear to Love (Avalon, 1983, hc) [A woman takes time off from her journalism job to visit her ill grandfather and finds herself falling for a potentially dangerous man.]
* Ghost of the Rock (Avalon, 1986, hc)
* House of Vengeance (Avalon, 1984, hc) [A woman inherits a reportedly haunted house and, when she arrives, she can’t understand why someone would want to harm her.]
* –Night Glow (Avalon, 1982, hc)
* Perilous Kisses [Avalon, 1986] [Included in the online Addenda #9 to the Revised CFIV.]
[NON-MYSTERY]
* Summer Camp Nurse [Avalon, 1985] Nurse romance novel.
WARWICK, CHESTER; pseudonym of Leonard Lupton; other pseudonym Mary Lupton
Other fiction as LEONARD LUPTON:
* Empire West (Lennox Hill, hc, 1972)
* Canyon Killer (Lennox Hill, 1973; Manor, pb, n.d.)
The latter two books, while not seen, are almost assuredly westerns.
One last search on the Internet led to the following discovery. From The FictionMags Index is the following (partial) list of pulp magazine stories written by Leonard Lupton, almost all of them tales of valor on the sports fields and arenas.
Mr. Lupton, if the author were the same man, and we are 99% sure that he is, would have been 20 when he started writing, and 35 when the last story appeared. That was in 1942, just in time to serve (as a guess) in World War II.
LUPTON, LEONARD
* He Just Dropped In (ss) The Popular Magazine Sep 7 1928
* The Shakes (ss) The Popular Magazine Nov 20 1928
* Captain of the Night Boat (ss) The Popular Magazine Feb 20 1929
* Mrs. Murphy’s Chowder (ss) The Popular Magazine Mar 7 1929
* A Minute with— (ms) The Popular Magazine Jul 20 1929
* The Beautiful Ballyhoo (ss) The Popular Magazine Aug 20 1929
* River Life (pm) The Popular Magazine Sep #2 1930
* Mr. Rooney Horns In (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Sep 25 1932
* Steel Grappler (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine May 25 1933
* One Hundred Per Cent Maloney (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Aug 10 1933
* The Great Gootch (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Dec 10 1933
* Goal Posts on Thunder Mountain (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Mar 10 1934
* The Fence-Buster (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Sep 10 1934
* The Carny Kid (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Oct 25 1934
* Big Top Touchdown (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Jan 25 1935
* Write It on Ice (ss) The All-America Sports Magazine Feb 1935
* Road Test (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Jun 10 1935
* The Wrestling Tramp (nv) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Jun 25 1935
* Publicity’s Pal (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Nov #1 1935
* Sucker Trap (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Dec #1 1935
* Tough on Tenors (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Jan #2 1936
* No Help Wanted (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine May #1 1936
* Only One Champ (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Nov #1 1936
* The Champion Chump (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Dec #2 1936
* P.S. – He Got the Gob (ss) The All-America Sports Magazine Feb 1937
* North to the Ski Trails (ss) The All-America Sports Magazine Mar 1937
* Get Brannigan (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Apr #1 1937
* Pan Rassler (nv) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Apr #2 1937
* False Alarm (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Oct #1 1937
* The Wrestling Dummy (nv) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Sep #1 1938
* When Geek Meets Geek (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Sep #2 1938
* Fall Guy (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Nov #2 1938
* Circuit Clown (ss) Thrilling Sports Jan 1939
* Telemark Tension (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Mar #1 1939
* Mud Show Mangler (nv) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine May #1 1939
* Health for Sale (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Sep #1 1939
* Take ’em to the Cleaners (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Jan 1940
* Suicide Saucer (ss) Popular Sports Magazine Fall 1940
* Jumpin’ Jiminy (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Feb 1941
* Kangaroo Kid (ss) Street & Smith’s Sport Story Magazine Mar 1941
* Money in Midgets (ss) Thrilling Sports Jan 1942
May 30th, 2007 at 11:39 am
I’m looking for info on the illustrator/artist of the cover of “Murder Without Tears”. I believe his name is Roy Lance. Any information on who might hold the copyright on his work would be much appreciated. Thank you.
David Stover
December 26th, 2016 at 7:52 pm
I can confirm that he lived in newburgh, we bought his house in 2001in Newburgh NY, from the estate of Mary Lupton. I came upon this page searching for his information as our then realtor told us he was a writer and lived there
May 26th, 2018 at 6:37 pm
I can confirm that he lived in Newburgh. I grew up next-door to him and his wife Mary. I can remember when the weather was warm enough to have windows open, I would often hear him typing away on his typewriter. They were both lovely people and wonderful neighbors.