John Herrington, who recently has been researching the careers of the many authors who wrote for the British publisher Robert Hale over the years, recently sent Al Hubin and myself word of the passing last month (on October 18th) of one of the more prolific of them, James Pattinson, 1915-2009.

   A list of the some one hundred or more books he wrote is included below. (This list has been expanded from that in the Revised Crime Fiction IV to include a few that have been published later than the year 2000 and therefore beyond the coverage of CFIV.)

   Only a handful of these books have been published in the US, making him all but unknown in this country.

   Says John about Pattinson’s novels: “I have read a lot of them. Not great or classics, but good readable thrillers, sea and war stories. Apparently, apart from time he served in the war, he lived in the same house in a Norfolk village all his life.”

   The death of a crime fiction writer with as many books as James Pattinson produced should not go unnoted. A list of his life’s output, fictionwise, may be a small tribute in some way, but it is a long list. (Note: The first three are war novels not included in CFIV. Thanks to Jamie Sturgeon for providing these, as well as three of the covers you will see below.)

* Soldier, Sail North (n.) Harrap, 1954 [non-criminous]
* The Wheel of Fortune (n.) Harrap, 1955 [non-criminous]
* Last in Convoy (n.) Harrap, 1957 [non-criminous]

* The Mystery of the Gregory Kotovsky (n.) Harrap 1958 [Ship]
* Contact Mr. Delgado (n.) Harrap 1959 [Harvey Landon; Ship]
* -Across the Narrow Seas (n.) Harrap 1960 [1944]
* Wild Justice (n.) Harrap 1960 [Ship]
* The Liberators (n.) Harrap 1961 [Harvey Landon]
* On Desperate Seas (n.) Harrap 1961 [Ship; WWII]
* The Angry Island (n.) Hale 1968 [West Indies]
* The Last Stronghold (n.) Hale 1968 [Harvey Landon; South America]
* Find the Diamonds (n.) Hale 1969
* The Golden Reef (n.) Hale 1969
* The Plague Makers (n.) Hale 1969
* Whispering Death (n.) Hale 1969
* The Deadly Shore (n.) Hale 1970

* The Rodriguez Affair (n.) Hale 1970

* Three Hundred Grand (n.) Hale 1970 [Caribbean]
* The Murmansk Assignment (n.) Hale 1971 [Russia]
* Sea Fury (n.) Hale 1971
* The Sinister Stars (n.) Hale 1971 [Harvey Landon]
* Watching Brief (n.) Hale 1971
* Away with Murder (n.) Hale 1972 [Amsterdam, Netherlands]
* Ocean Prize (n.) Hale 1972
* Weed (n.) Hale 1972
* A Fortune in the Sky (n.) Hale 1973
* The Marakano Formula (n.) Hale 1973
* Search Warrant (n.) Hale 1973 [Sam Grant; U.S.]
* Cordley’s Castle (n.) Hale 1974
* The Haunted Sea (n.) Hale 1974 [Ship]

* The Petronov Plan (n.) Hale 1974 [Brazil]

* Crusader’s Cross (n.) Hale 1975 [Greece]
* Feast of the Scorpion (n.) Hale 1975
* Freedman (n.) Hale 1975
* The Honeymoon Caper (n.) Hale 1976 [Finland]
* A Real Killing (n.) Hale 1976 [Sam Grant]

* Special Delivery (n.) Hale 1976 [England; France]
* A Walking Shadow (n.) Hale 1976

* Final Run (n.) Hale 1977
* The No-Risk Operation (n.) Hale 1977
* The Spanish Hawk (n.) Hale 1977 [Caribbean]
* Blind Date (n.) Hale 1978

* Something of Value (n.) Hale 1978 [Sam Grant]
* Ten Million Dollar Cinch (n.) Hale 1978 [Caribbean]
* The Courier Job (n.) Hale 1979
* The Rashevski Ikon (n.) Hale 1979
* Red Exit (n.) Hale 1979
* Busman’s Holiday (n.) Hale 1980
* The Levantine Trade (n.) Hale 1980
* The Spayde Conspiracy (n.) Hale 1980
* The Antwerp Appointment (n.) Hale 1981 [Antwerp, Belgium]
* The Seven Sleepers (n.) Hale 1981
* Stride (n.) Hale 1981
* A Fatal Errand (n.) Hale 1982
* Lethal Orders (n.) Hale 1982
* The Stalking Horse (n.) Hale 1982
* A Car for Mr. Bradley (n.) Hale 1983
* Flight to the Sea (n.) Hale 1983
* The Kavulu Lion (n.) Hale 1983
* Dead of Winter (n.) Hale 1984
* Precious Cargo (n.) Hale 1984 [Ship]
* The Saigon Merchant (n.) Hale 1984 [London]
* -Come Home, Toby Brown (n.) Hale 1985
* Homecoming (n.) Hale 1985 [England]
* Life-Preserver (n.) Hale 1985 [England]
* The Syrian Client (n.) Hale 1986 [Sam Grant]
* Where the Money Is (n.) Hale 1986
* Dangerous Enchantment (n.) Hale 1987 [Sam Grant]
* A Dream of Madness (n.) Hale 1987
* Paradise in the Sun (n.) Hale 1987
* The Junk Run (n.) Hale 1988
* Legatee (n.) Hale 1988 [Sam Grant]
* Dishonour Among Thieves (n.) Hale 1989
* Killer (n.) Hale 1989
* Operation Zenith (n.) Hale 1989
* Dead Men Rise Up Never (n.) Hale 1990 [England; 1938]

* Poisoned Chalice (n.) Hale 1990
* The Spoilers (n.) Hale 1990 [Central America]
* Devil Under the Skin (n.) Hale 1991 [England]

* With Menaces (n.) Hale 1991

* The Animal Gang (n.) Hale 1992 [England]

* Steel (n.) Hale 1992
* Bavarian Sunset (n.) Hale 1993 [Germany]
* The Emperor Stone (n.) Hale 1993
* Fat Man from Colombia (n.) Hale 1993
* Lady from Argentina (n.) Hale 1994
* The Telephone Murders (n.) Hale 1994
* The Poison Traders (n.) Hale 1995
* Squeaky Clean (n.) Hale 1995
* Avenger of Blood (n.) Hale 1996
* A Wind on the Heath (n.) Hale 1996 [England; 1930s]
* One-Way Ticket (n.) Hale 1997
* The Time of Your Life (n.) Hale 1997
* Death of a Go-Between (n.) Hale 1998 [Sam Grant; Amsterdam, Netherlands; London]
* Some Job (n.) Hale 1998 [West Indies]
* Skeleton Island (n.) Hale 1999 [Florida]
* The Wild One (n.) Hale 1999 [England]
* A Passage of Arms (n.) Hale 2000 [Far East]
* Old Pal’s Act (n.) Hale 2001
* Crane (n.) Hale 2001
* Obituary for Howard Gray (n.) Hale 2003
* Bullion (n.) Hale 2004
* The Unknown (n.) Hale 2008

[UPDATE] 11-11-09. The photo of Mr Pattinson came from the back cover or dust jacket flap of one of his books and was sent to me by Jamie Sturgeon. Jamie also sent along a host of updated information about settings and additional series character appearances. I haven’t added them here, but Al Hubin has them now, and they appear in the next installment of the online Addenda to the Revised CFIV.

   Editor, reviewer, anthologist, bibliographer, and crime fiction scholar extraordinaire, Allen Hubin’s extensive contribution to the field began over forty-years ago. In 1967, working out of his basement, he founded the legendary fanzine, The Armchair Detective (TAD).

   Then, with just one review under his belt, Hubin was asked to review for the New York Times Book Review, taking over for Anthony Boucher. In his column, “Criminals at Large,” Hubin reviewed six books a week for almost three years. He hadn’t given anthologies a thought until Dutton called and asked if he’d carry on for Anthony Boucher and edit the Best Detective Stories of the Year.

   Hubin’s involvement in crime fiction bibliography began innocently enough, as well. He was asked to write the introduction to the world’s first crime fiction bibliography compiled by North Dakota librarian Ordean Hagen: Who Done It, (published by Bowker in 1969). During the compilation, Hubin opened his home and extensive library to Hagen and offered to help with the research. Unfortunately, Hagen passed away before the book was released.

   When corrections and additions to Hagen’s published work began to accumulate, Hubin decided to publish them in the pages of TAD, but they were rather extensive and a bit too random, and he had some ideas on how the information could be better organized. So, with the six-book-a-week reviews having wound down, he decided he could manage a “little” bibliographic work.

   That work mushroomed into a massive and seemingly never-ending project laboriously begun during the typewriter era, and in 1979, The Bibliography of Crime Fiction, 1740-1975 was published. Hubin could have left it at that, but he had in mind to add another five years of coverage and a new feature or two. Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography appeared in 1984.

   And that was not the end. Others followed, and by the year 2000, the end of the 20th century seemed to Hubin a more fitting climax to what would be more than thirty years of bibliographic effort, bringing him to the current Crime Fiction IV: A Comprehensive Bibliography 1749-2000! This impressive work contains author and title indexes to over 106,000 books, the contents of more than 6,600 collections, and identification of over 4,500 movies.

   A 2008 revised edition of the bibliography has been published on CDROM (by Locus Press). In addition, given that hundred of pages of new/corrected material has since accumulated, a 2009 edition (still with the 12/31/2000 cutoff date for new publications) is contemplated (again on CDROM by Locus Press). Much of this material for the 2009 edition can be found (with linkages and enhancements that won’t appear in the CDROM) at www.crimefictioniv.com.

[UPDATE / EDITORIAL COMMENT]. 11-02-09. Bouchercon 2009 has come and gone. I’d have loved to have been there, but the closest I got was my annual Columbus Day weekend trip to see my brother and sister back in Michigan something close to the same time.

   I certainly don’t know who deserved the award more. If you look at Al’s resume and all of those numbers, his accomplishments are staggering. (And all the more so when you consider that he began when typewriters were all the rage.)

   The updated version of the Revised Crime Fiction IV is now available on CD-Rom from Locus Press. I don’t have my copy yet, but it was on sale at Bouchercon. It incorporates all of the online Addenda included through Part 34. I uploaded Part 35 this morning, and I have some material to send Al later today that will appear in Part 36.

V. C. CLINTON-BADDELEY – Only a Matter of Time.

Dell, paperback reprint; 1st printing, July 1981; Murder Ink Mystery #23. Hardcover edition: William Morrow, 1970. Prior UK edition: Victor Gollancz, hc, 1969; pb reprint: Arrow, 1974.

   Not knowing very much about the author, and assuming that perhaps that you don’t either, I’ve taken the liberty of reproducing the autobiographical blurb that was included at the end of this book:

   This explains a lot, and I’ll get to that in a moment. His full name, according to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin, was V(ictor Vaughan Reynolds Geraint) C(linton) Clinton-Baddeley, 1900-1970, and his mystery writing career consisted of five detective stories that came out between 1967 and 1972, all featuring Dr. R. V. Davie as his continuing series character. (I’ll list the five books at the end of this review.)

   But what struck me when I was reading Only a Matter of Time was how erudite both the author and his sleuth were, and the brief biographical notes above only confirmed my thoughts. Not in a snobbish way, though. Not at all. The author has a dry if not wry sense of humor that had me smiling if not laughing throughout.

   The novel takes place in a small town called King’s Lacy during a week in the summer when a week-long classical music festival is going on.

   The town also has a multitude of antique and small curio shops, and every so often the murder investigation stops and we (the reader) are treated to a knowledgeable discussion involving something to do with the fine arts. Either major or minor tidbits of information, it doesn’t matter, they’re still a treat.

   There is a slow, leisurely pace to this novel. I mentioned a murder investigation, but the first death is not known until the book is half over, although the victim had disappeared some time before that. Dr. Davie cooperates with the police, but since the second victim was known to him, that is his only rationale for continuing to stay involved.

   As the title suggests, you might be wise to keep close tabs on the timing of events, including watches that stop or run erratically and a church bell that does not chime overnight.

   One definition of a cozy mystery is perhaps one in which no commotion occurs when the murder does, and if so, that makes Only a Matter of Time the perfect example of a cozy mystery. The festival is not canceled, the show goes on, and Dr. Davie continues to take his afternoon nap, right on schedule.

   Overall, then? If you don’t mind leisurely, discursive detective novels with plenty of clues and false leads, this is the perfect one for you to try on for size the next time you’re looking for a book precisely like this one to read.

V. C. CLINTON-BADDELEY. Dr. Davie in all. First UK editions only:

      Death’s Bright Dart (n.) Gollancz 1967.

      My Foe Outstretch�d Beneath the Tree (n.) Gollancz 1968.

      Only a Matter of Time (n.) Gollancz 1969.
      No Case for the Police (n.) Gollancz 1970.
      To Study a Long Silence (n.) Gollancz 1972.

HUGH AUSTIN – The Milkmaid’s Millions. Charles Scribner’s Sons, hardcover, 1948.

   This is the second and apparently last in the “Sultan’s Harem” mysteries. The Sultan is Wm (that’s the way he spells it) Sultan, the only surviving member of Sultan, Sultan & Sultan, counselors at law.

   Wm is thirty-five years old, but talks and thinks as if he were in his seventies. His staff, all female and thus “the harem,” treats him as if he were their grandfather, though his secretary appears to regard him as a possible swain.

   Wm’s main interest in life is compiling his late uncle’s “Life & Letters.” His staff is typing up the forty-second chapter of the second volume, which seems to comprise the twenty-seven thank-you letters the uncle sent for presents received on his fourteenth birthday.

   One shudders to think what the other forty-one chapters in volume two might consist of, and volume one doesn’t bear thinking about at all.

   One of Wm’s few clients has prepared a codicil to his will, having recently discovered a direct descendant, and Wm is called upon to prove the bona fides of the new family member. Shortly after Wm arrives at the client’s home, however, the testator is murdered.

   The investigators think that Wm did it, evidence arises that Wm probably didn’t do it, and then new developments seem to demonstrate that he did indeed do it.

   Wm’s harem, who were responsible for his getting involved in the mess, arrives on the scene to vamp some of the suspects and rig some evidence so that Wm will not be convicted of the crime. Those who enjoy the pedantic and stuffy, mixed with the preposterous, will find this novel delightful. The crime’s rather good, too.

   Bibliographic Data. [Taken from the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.] —

         AUSTIN, HUGH. Pseudonym of Hugh Austin Evans.

    It Couldn’t Be Murder (n.) Doubleday 1935 [Peter Quint]
    Murder in Triplicate (n.) Doubleday 1935 [Peter Quint]
    Murder of a Matriarch (n.) Doubleday 1936 [Peter Quint]
    The Upside Down Murders (n.) Doubleday 1937 [Peter Quint]
    The Cock’s Tail Murder (n.) Doubleday 1938 [Peter Quint]

    Lilies for Madame (n.) Doubleday 1938.
    Drink the Green Water (n.) Scribner 1948 [Wm Sultan (Sultan’s Harem)]
    The Milkmaid’s Millions (n.) Scribner 1948 [Wm Sultan (Sultan’s Harem)]
    Death Has Seven Faces (n.) Scribner 1949.

   Peter Quint was a lieutenant in the New York City police department. The small cover image of The Cock’s Tail Murder seen above (by Artzybasheff) is the only one of Austin’s books that I’ve been able to come up with so far in jacket. No other information about the author, other than his real name, seems to be known.

[UPDATE] Later the same day.   British bookseller Jamie Sturgeon has just supplied me with another cover, this one for The Upside Down Murders. It came from a Grosset reprint, but both he and I believe it to be the same as the Crime Club edition. Art by Duggaru:

[UPDATE #2] 10-26-09.   Thanks to the combined efforts of Victor Berch, Jamie Sturgeon and Al Hubin — and Google! — it has been learned that Hugh Austin Evans was born in 1903 and died in 1964.

MERLDA MACE – Motto for Murder. Messner, hardcover, 1943. Hardcover reprint: Detective Book Club, 3-in-1 edition, November 1943. Digest paperback: Crestwood / Black Cat Detective #17, 1945 (abridged).

   Motto for Murder was one of a trio of murder mysteries written by Merlda Mace during the 1940’s. The detective she deploys in this story is Timothy J. O’Neil better known as Tip to his friends. He is a 26 year old “special investigator” for Barnes and Gleason, a New York City investment firm.

   How he got this job is one of the big mysteries of this book since he readily admits that he is not much of an investigator and his performance during the story bears this out.

   This is, in essence, a country house mystery. The house is an isolated mansion located in the mountains of northern New York State near Lake Placid. The controlling and quite unpleasant matriarch of a wealthy family has gathered her extended family to tell them that she has screwed them out of their inheritances. A snowstorm descends on the region and several murders occur during a long Christmas weekend.

   This seems to me like a combination of a mediocre Mignon G. Eberhart mystery and a bad Ellery Queen mystery. The author can put words and sentences and paragraphs together in a coherent manner but the book, on the whole, is a disappointment.

   The physical and character clues are not first rate, and the author employs a HIBK technique that serves no valid storytelling purpose. Since the characters insisted on wandering around in the dark, leaving their bedrooms unlocked at night and napping in vulnerable spots, the killer did not have too much trouble carrying out the murders. The “mottos” from the title of the story refer to fortune-cookie type candies wrapped in little papers containing sayings which play a small part in the solution.

   Merlda Mace was a pseudonym of Madeleine McCoy. Apparently “Tip” O’Neil is not a series character, but according to Al Hubin’s Revised Crime Fiction IV, Mace’s other two mysteries utilize a female sleuth called Christine Anderson (the ‘blonde’ in Blondes Don’t Cry).

     Bibliographic data:   [Taken from the Revised Crime Fiction IV]

MACE, MERLDA. Pseudonym of Madeleine McCoy, 1910?-1990?

    Headlong for Murder (n.) Messner 1943 [Christine Anderson; Connecticut]

    Motto for Murder (n.) Messner 1943 [New York]
    Blondes Don’t Cry (n.) Messner 1945 [Christine Anderson; Washington, D.C.]

    More authors’ entries from Part 34 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. Most of these authors’ names are unfamiliar now, but if you take the time to read through their biographies, brief as they are, you’ll see how well known they were in their day.

BRITTON, KENNETH PHILLIPS. Poet, playwright, writer. Co-author (with Roy Hargrave, 1908- , q.v.) of one mystery play included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV.

HAPGOOD, HUTCHINS. 1869-1944. Born in Chicago. Add: educated at the University of Michigan, at Harvard, and in Berlin and Strasburg. Later a journalist and drama critic for the Chicago Evening Post; noted most as a social critic and an anarchist. Author of one novel included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below:

      The Autobiography of a Thief. Duffield & Co., US, hc, 1903; Putnam, UK, 1904. Add setting: New York City. From an online New York Times review: “… a graphic and picturesque account of life in the under world.” [Text online.]

HARDING, JOHN WILLIAM. 1864-? Add biographical information: Born in London, England; educated there and in Paris. Later on editorial staff of New York Times; short story writer and playwright. Author of one novel included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Note that his full middle name was used on this title:

      A Conjurer of Phantoms. F. Tennyson Neely, US, hc, 1898. [An “elusive supernatural novel,” says one ABE bookseller.]

HARDY, ARTHUR SHERBURNE. 1847-1930. Add biographical information: Born in Andover, Massachusetts and educated in Boston, Switzerland and at West Point; Professor of Civil Engineering, Los Angeles College, and of mathematics at Dartmouth College, 1884-1893. Editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, 1893-95. Consul-General to Persia, 1897-1899; U.S. Minister to Greece, Romania and Serbia, 1899-1901, to Switzerland, 1901-1903, and to Spain, 1903-1905. Among other writings, the author of one detective novel and one story collection included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Series character: Inspector Joly, who appears in the novel and six of the eleven short stories.

      Diane and Her Friends. Houghton Mifflin, US, hc, 1914, hc. Story collection. Queen’s Quorum title.

      No. 13, Rue du Bon Diable. Houghton Mifflin, US, hc, 1917.

HARGRAVE, ROY. 1908- . Add year of birth & biographical information: born in New York; actor, director and author. Co-author (with Kenneth Phillips Britton, q.v.) of one play included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV.

      Houseparty. French, US, pb, 1930. [3-act play.] Add setting: Massachusetts; Academia (Williams College).

HARRADEN, BEATRICE. 1864-1935. Add biographical information: Born in Hampstead, London; member of several societies for social reform and women’s rights. Author of two novels included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. This is now the author’s complete entry:

      Out of the Wreck I Rise. T. Nelson & Sons, UK, hc, 1912. Add US edition: Stokes, US, 1912; also add setting: England. Note: The title is a quote from Robert Browning. [Text online.]

      Search Will Find It Out. Mills & Boon, UK, hc, 1928. Setting: England. Note: The title is a quote from Robert Herrick.

HARRISON, EDITH OGDEN. 1862-1955. Add year of birth and biographical information: Born Edith Ogden in New Orleans; in 1887 married Carter Henry Harrison, who served at least five terms as mayor of Chicago. Noted author of juvenile fiction, travel books and autobiographical works, plays and novels; contributor to Chicago Daily News. Author of two tales of the Royal Canadian Mounties listed in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. This is now the author’s complete entry:

      The Lady of the Snows. McClurg, US, hc, 1912. Setting: Canada. Illustrations by J. Allen St. John. Add film: 1915; see synopsis here. [Text online.]

      The Scarlet Riders. Chicago, IL: Seymour, US, hc, 1930. Setting: Saskatchewan, Canada. “Western adventure novel of train robbery and banditry.”

MANDA SCOTT – The Crystal Skull. Delacorte Press, hardcover, April 2008. Paperback reprint: Bantam Books, February 2009. UK edition: Transworld, January 2008.

   According to Mayan lore, the world will end on 21/12/2012. The only salvation for humanity lies in the activation of 12 crystal skulls entrusted to the protection of a network of keepers.

   Stella Cody O’Connor, a descendant of Cedric Owens, the keeper of the ninth skull, who was murdered in 1599 after hiding the skull from the dark forces who would destroy it, with the help of her husband, Kit, retrieves the skull from a cave in which it has been buried.

   This is, however, only the beginning of her task, and the novel traces, with mounting tension, Owens’ odyssey in the past and Stella’s present-day struggle to protect the sacred skull.

   Owens’ odyssey takes him to the New World, where the powers of the Skull are revealed to him. The Skull is no inanimate object, the mute subject of the quest. Its keeper bonds with it, and it is that spiritual and emotional bond that is, perhaps, the most distinctive quality of this intelligent thriller, giving it an unusual and moving resonance.

         Bibliographic data [expanded from the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin] —

SCOTT, MANDA (Catriona).

      The Dr. Kellen Stewart series —

   Hen’s Teeth. Women’s Press, UK, pb, 1996; Bantam, US, 1999.

   Night Mares. Headline Press, UK, hc, 1998; Bantam, 1999.
   Stronger Than Death. Headline, UK, hc, 1999; Bantam, 2000.

Note: The series is set in Glasgow, Scotland, and environs. Dr. Stewart is a doctor, a therapist and a lesbian, and in various ways she’s personally involved with each of the cases of murder she works on.

       Crime/mystery novels —

   No Good Deed. Headline, UK, 2001; Bantam, US, 2002. [Nominated for an Edgar, 2003.]

   The Crystal Skull. Transworld, UK, 2008; Delacorte, US, 2008.

    More authors’ entries from Part 34 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin. I’m still working in the H’s, with a couple of small dividends at the top and bottom:

GIBBS, HENRY CHARLES HAMILTON. 1870-1942. Name at birth of Cosmo Hamilton, q.v.

HAINES, DONAL HAMILTON. 1886-1951. Add biographical information: Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan; educated at the University of Michigan, where he also later taught journalism and freelance writing. Contributor to many magazines, including Everybody’s Magazine, The Popular Magazine, and The American Boy. Besides writing a number of boys’ sports and adventure books, the author of one mystery novel included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below:

      Shadow on the Campus. Farrar & Rinehart, hc, 1942. Setting: Michigan; Academia. Intended for younger readers.

HALL, GEOFFREY HOLIDAY. 1913-1981. Confirm both dates. Born in Santa Cruz, NM. The author of two mystery novels listed in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below. This is the author’s complete entry.

      The End Is Known. Simon & Schuster, hc, 1949; Heinemann, UK, hc, 1950. Setting: New York City; Montana. Add the latter; also add film: Cineritmo, 1993, as La Fine e Nota (scw: Cristina Comencini, Suso Cecchi d’Amico; dir: Comencini). [A review of the book can be found here on this blog.]

      The Watcher at the Door. Simon & Schuster, hc, 1954. Setting: Vienna.

HAMILTON, CATHERINE J(ANE). 1841-1935. Add as a new author. Born in Somerset, England, of Irish parents. Lived in Ireland for more than thirty years from 1859; author of short stories, verse and serials, contributing to Weekly Irish Times and Ireland’s Own, among other periodicals.

      The Flynns of Flynnville, as by C. J. Hamilton. Ward, 1879. Setting: Ireland. Novel based on “the murder of a bank-manager by a constabulary officer called Montgomery.” [Online text.]

      -True to the Core: A Romance of ’98. White, 1884. [Two volumes.] Setting: Dublin. “The story of the love of a Kerry peasant girl for the ill-fated John Sheares.”

HAMILTON, COSMO. 1870-1942. Name at birth: Henry Charles Hamilton Gibbs, 1870-1942, q.v. Born in England; his working byline was based on his mother’s maiden name. Correct name and year of birth; add biographical information: Settled in the US by the 1920s; novelist and playwright, authoring many London musicals and Broadway plays. One novel and four story collections are included in his entry in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Not all of the short fiction is criminous. Add the book of four plays below. Also of special note is the one novel, also cited below:

      Four Plays. Hutchinson, UK, 1925; Little, US, 1924. Plays, with the one criminous so indicated below with a *. Note: “The New Poor” was also published separately as: Who Are They? French, 1929.
            The Mother Woman
            * The New Poor
            Scandal
            The Silver Fox

      -The Princess of New York. Hutchinson, UK, hc, 1911; Brentano’s, US, hc, 1911. Silent film: Famous Players, 1921 (scw: Margaret Turnbull; dir: Donald Crisp). [The daughter of an American steel magnate heads for Europe but is waylaid on the liner by a pair of confidence tricksters.] Note: Although working behind the scenes, the 22 year old Alfred Hitchcock developed his cinematic vernacular by compiling the title cards for this film. (From the IMDB link just preceding.)

      Who Are They? See Four Plays.

HANKINS, ARTHUR P(RESTON). 1880-1932. Pseudonym: Emart Kinsburn, q.v. Born in Sac City, Iowa. Add biographical information: Under his own name, besides writing several western and adventure novels, the author of two crime-related titles included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. His shorter work appeared in many pulp magazines such as Detective Story Magazine, Western Story Magazine and Argosy All-Story Weekly.

KINSBURN, EMART. Pseudonym of Arthur P(reston) Hankins, 1880-1932, q.v. Under this pen name, the author of several western novels as well as two crime thrillers included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below:
      Tong Men and a Million. Chelsea House, hc, 1927. Set in San Francisco’s Chinatown: “Soft-footed Chinese gunmen stealing forth at night to shoot down the victims whom their tong has marked for destruction!”

      The Wizard’s Spyglass. Chelsea House, hc, 1926.

    Another grouping of authors’ entries from Part 34 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.

   Notable here is the addition of mystery writer Celia Fremlin, who died last June, and the untangling of the books credited to “John Mowbray,” the latter being the pen name used by two different writers quite independently of each other, as you’ll see below:

FREMLIN, CELIA (MARGARET). 1914-2009. Add year of death. Born in Kingsbury, Middlesex; died in Bournemouth, 16 June 2009. Sister of nuclear physicist John H. Fremlin. Married twice, first to Elia Goller in 1942 (died 1968), three children (all of whom predeceased her), then to Leslie Minchin in 1985 (died 1999). Author of 19 books of psychological suspense listed in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, three of them story collections. Her first novel, The Hours Before Dawn (Gollancz, 1958; Lippincott, 1959), reviewed here on this blog, was the winner of the 1960 MWA Edgar for Best First Novel of the Year.

HADATH, (JOHN EDWARD) GUNBY. 1871-1954. Born in Lincolnshire, England. Pseudonyms: John Mowbray, Shepherd Pearson, qq.v. Add biographical information: Born in Owersby, Lincolnshire, England. Journalist, correspondent for provincial papers, then London correspondent for Italian press. Under his own name, the author of more than 100 books for boys involving English public school life and wartime adventure, plus many stories appearing in periodicals such as Chums, Happy Mag., and The Captain. Other pen names used for his short fiction: James Duncan, Felix O’Grady, Shepperd Pearson. One of his boys’ adventure books is shown below (S. W. Partridge & Co., circa 1905).

MOWBRAY, JOHN. Pseudonym of (John Edward) Gunby Hadath, 1871-1954, q.v. Other pseudonym: Shepherd Pearson, q.v. Under the Mowbray byline, the author of five titles included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, three of them likely to be boys’ adventure stories. See below. This is now the author’s complete entry under this byline.
      The Frontier Mystery. Collins, UK, hc, 1940.
      The Megeve Mystery. Collins, UK, hc, 1941. Setting: France.
      On Secret Service. Collins, UK, hc, 1939. Setting: Europe. Probably intended for younger readers.
      The Radio Mystery. Collins, UK, hc, 1941. Probably intended for younger readers.

      -The Way of the Weasel. Partridge, UK, hc, 1922. Setting: England; Academia. Probably intended for younger readers.

MOWBRAY, JOHN. Pseudonym of John (George) Haslette Vahey, 1881-1938, q.v. Other pseudonyms: Henrietta Clandon, John Haslette, Anthony Lang, Vernon Loder & Walter Proudfoot. Under this pen name, the author of one crime thriller to be included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Delete the other five titles in his previous entry; these should be attributed to (John Edward) Gunby Hadath, also writing as John Mowbray. See above. Below is now the author’s complete entry under this byline.
      Call the Yard. Skeffington, UK, hc, 1931. Setting: England.

PEARSON, SHEPHERD. Pseudonym of (John Edward) Gunby Hadath, 1871-1954, q.v. Other pseudonym: John Mowbray, q.v. Under this pen name, the author of one crime thriller included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below.
      The Second Count. Gifford, UK, hc, 1944.

VAHEY, JOHN (GEORGE) HASLETTE. 1881-1938 Pseudonym: John Mowbray, q.v. Other pseudonyms: Henrietta Clandon, John Haslette, Anthony Lang, Vernon Loder & Walter Proudfoot. Born in Belfast; educated at Foyle College, Londonderry and Hanover. Under his own name, the author of 14 crime novels included in the Revised Crime Fiction IV, four of them marginally. Also criminous are a large number of books written under each of the pen names above.

   I’ve recently annotated another grouping of authors’ entries from Part 34 of the online Addenda to the Revised Crime Fiction IV, by Allen J. Hubin.

   If the author in entry one below seems out of place at first, you’ll see why it’s here soon enough, I believe. One significant update is the disambiguation of two authors with very similar sounding names, Harlan Eugene Read and Harlan (M.) Reed.

BROTHER JAMES. Pseudonym of [Dr.] James Reynolds, – 1866, q.v.
       -The Adventures of Moses Finegan, an Irish Pervert. Duffy (Dublin), 1885. Previously published as by James Reynolds: Duffy (Dublin), 1870.

READ, CHARLES A(NDERTON). 1841-1878. Add as a new author. Born in Ireland; merchant in Rathfriland, County Down; went to London in 1863, where he became a journalist. During his writing career the author of numerous sketches, poems, short tales and nine novels, two of which are criminous in nature:
       Aileen Aroon; or, The Pride of Conmore. Henderson (London), 1870. Setting: Ireland. First appeared in The Weekly Budget. “Garratt O’Neill is falsely accused of murder.”
       Savourneen Dheeush; or, One True Heart. Henderson (London), 1869. Setting: Ireland. First appeared in The Weekly Budget. [Based on the Wildgoose Lodge Murders of 1816.]

READ, HARLAN EUGENE. 1880-1963. Add biographical information: Born in Jacksonville IL; educated at Oxford University and Brown’s Business College; editor; did syndicated newspaper work; St. Louis radio news commentator. Author of one book in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. See below:
      -Thurman Lucas. Macmillan, US, hc, 1929. Add setting: St. Louis, East St. Louis IL, and Nevada; early 1900s. [After several scrapes with the law in the Midwest, a man becomes a success in the mining fields of Nevada.]

REED, HARLAN (M.) 1913-2001. Add middle initial, years of birth & death, and the following biographical information, replacing the previously incorrect data: Born in Nome, Alaska, raised in Seattle. graduate of University of Washington, where he also taught creative writing. Ran family oil business in Vancouver WA after WWII; photographer and jazz pianist. Author of two mystery novels in the Revised Crime Fiction IV. Below is the author’s complete entry. Series character in each: hard-drinking “idiosyncratic” private eye Dan Jordan.
      The Case of the Crawling Cockroach. Dutton, hc, 1937. Setting: Ship.

      The Swing Music Murder. Dutton, hc, 1938. Setting: Seattle WA.

REID, LIZZIE C. Add as a new author. Short story writer who lived in Belfast, Ireland; her stories appeared in The People’s Friend and other periodicals.
      -The Doctor’s Locum Tenens. Sealy (Dublin), 1907. Setting: Ireland. “A lady doctor’s adventures in an Ulster town. […] Interwoven with a narrative of mystery and plotting there is a pleasant love story.”

REYNOLDS, [DR.] JAMES. -1866. Add as a new author. Pseudonym: Brother James, q.v. Lived in Booterstown, County Dublin. Short story writer; contributed several serials to Duffy’s Fireside Magazine under the additional pen names E. L. Berwick and “A Well-Known Novelist.”
      -The Adventures of Moses Finegan, an Irish Pervert. Duffy (Dublin), 1870. Also published as by Brother James: Duffy (Dublin), 1885. Setting: Ireland. [The protagonist, although married, goes with a benefactor’s daughter to America, where he is later sentenced to death for her murder.] Note that the word “pervert” in the title is used here in the religious sense, as the opposite of “convert.”