For a variety of reasons, women have often deployed a male penname when writing. Famous examples from the 19th century include Mary Ann Evans who wrote as George Eliot and the Bronte sisters who wrote as Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Today’s post does not seek to explore in depth the reasons for women adopting male pseudonyms, although gender-based prejudice was an important factor.
Using male pennames, is a practice which can also be seen in the publication of mid-20th century crime fiction, although Anthony Boucher’s tongue in cheek comment (from an introduction he wrote in 1960 for the reprint of a crime novel published under a male pseudonym) challenges the necessity of doing so:
‘It used to be an article in the creed of most publishers that you can’t sell a mystery novel with a woman’s by-line – a theory that would appear to be based upon the financial fiasco of the works of Mary Roberts Rinehart, Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie.’
Looking back on interwar crime fiction, until the last decade or so when reprinting of mysteries has become more prolific, it would be reasonable to assert that female authors fared better in terms of being remembered, with some receiving the accolade of being Queens of Crime. So, I will leave you to ponder the question of whether it was better for female classic crime writers to use male pennames? I suspect there are no easy answers, and they may be author specific and/or depend on other factors e.g. did the author write series or standalones.
However, let’s get cracking with the list…
Author No. 1: Roger Scarlett
Real names: Dorothy Blair and Evelyn Page
Roger Scarlett was the penname, not for one woman, but two, and together Dorothy and Evelyn published 5 mysteries between 1930 and 1933. I have reviewed three of these to date:
- The Beacon Hill Murders (1930) – This mystery had ingenious murder methods and good misdirection.
- The Back Bay Murders (1930) – A boarding house, which like the above book, had good pacing, and I appreciated how the evidence was readily available for the armchair detective.
- Cat’s Paw (1931) – Murder strikes in the midst of a household, ruled over by an interesting yet manipulative patriarchal figure.
The first two titles are available to buy from Coachwhip Publications and the final one can be bought from American Mystery Classics.
In the introduction to Cat’s Paw, Curtis Evans includes snippets from a contemporary interview Wesley Griswold conducted with this writing duo. During this interview Dorothy and Evelyn explained the different roles they had in the writing process. Dorothy created the plot outline, and Evelyn did the initial writing, but Dorothy was also in charge of ‘smoothing out snarls in the action, adding drama to the discovery of clues and finesse to the solution of the crime.’ Part of the planning process for Dorothy, was producing a graph to ‘indicate where the peaks of suspense’ were ‘to be raised.’
Dorothy and Evelyn also offered their thoughts on the art of writing mystery fiction, in this interview, opining that:
‘The hardest job in writing a detective story is to protect the murderer from discovery… Of course we employ the normal number of red herrings, but only to test the reader’s mettle. We prepare one character for the dumb reader to fasten his suspicions upon, another to mislead the slightly more intelligent murder mystery fan, and for the really smart reader, with whom we have the most fun, we lay a trail of clues which, if he’s as adroit as he thinks he is, will lead him directly to the criminal.’
Is everyone at this point wondering which level of reader they might be?
Fans of locked room murders might be interested in trying Murder Among the Angells, by this writing pair. This can be bought via Coachwhip Publications, who have also reprinted In the First Degree.
Author No. 2: Richard Shattuck
Real name: Dora Richards Shattuck
Dora penned four mysteries between 1940 and 1945, and she seems to have enjoyed choosing titles with literary allusions, such as The Wedding Guest Sat on a Stone (1940), her first mystery, and the only one I have read. However, its reprint title from 1953, The Body in the Bridal Bed, probably says more about the plot. Dora was a comic crime novelist and Anthony Boucher commented on her work that in the 1940s ‘it was still possible to be wholly irreverent and wildly funny about murder.’
However, if the first book is indicative of the others, then I m not sure these mysteries would be worth pawning the family jewels for. The Wedding Guest Sat on a Stone, for me, was too silly and nonsensical. I love mysteries which are also screwball comedies, as my enthusiasm fpr Craig Rice (see below) and Alice Tilton attests, but Dora’s novel lacks the strengths Rice and Tilton had (when writing at their best). Based on the excellent books by this latter pair, I would say the zanier your narrative is, the tighter your plot needs to be to prevent the bizarre events of the story derailing the book as a whole. I am not sure Dora succeeds in doing this.
Nevertheless, The Wedding Guest Sat on a Stone does feature the worst wedding night experience ever, as our bride gets into bed, but the other person in the bed is not her husband and this other person is not alive either… Getting into bed with a corpse is rough! I also think Dora is possibly the first mystery writer to have a detective catch the killer without his trousers on. Is this the most undignified reveal of a killer ever?
Dora’s other mystery titles are: Snark was a Boojum (1941) [reprinted as With Blood and Kisses (1954)], Said the Fly to the Spider (1944) and Half-Haunted Saloon (1945).
Author No. 3: Craig Rice
Real name: Georgiana Ann Randolph Craig
Whilst writers like Agatha Christie shied away from publicity, Georgiana relished it, making the most of interviews, opportunities to report on real criminal cases and even her fifth wedding was used as a moment for publicity. In January 1946, she was the first mystery author to appear on the cover of Times Magazine. Georgiana led a fascinating but heartbreaking life, which Jeffrey Mark’s book, Who Was That Lady? Craig Rice: The Queen of Screwball Crime (2001; 2021), engagingly explores in more detail. It is certainly a biography that I would recommend.
As mentioned in a previous section, I am a fan of Georgiana’s work, having read the following titles to date:
John J. Malone, Jake Justus and Helene Brand Series
- Eight Faces to Three (1939) [This has been reprinted by American Mystery Classics.]
- The Corpse Steps Out (1940)
- The Wrong Murder (1940)
- The Right Murder (1941)
- Trial by Fury (1941)
- Having Wonderful Crime (1943)
- The Lucky Stiff (1945)
Bingo Riggs and Handsome Kusak Series
- The Sunday Pigeon Murders (1942)
- The April Robin Murders (1959) (completed by Ed McBain)
Non-Series/Standalones
- Home, Sweet Homicide (1944) [This has been reprinted by American Mystery Classics]
Melville Fairr Series (Written as Michael Venning)
Given my enthusiasm for Georgiana’s work, I was pleased that one of the prizes I am offering in my 10-year blog anniversary competition is Home Sweet Homicide.
Why do I love her work so much? When Georgiana is working at her best, she is able to offer readers a fast-moving whirlwind of humour and action, all the while constructing a clever mystery. Her books are just fun, plain and simple. I enjoy the maverick behaviour of the characters, watching them fly by the seat of their pants as they rush from one problem to another. Sometimes Malone, Jake and Helene sail close to the wind legally speaking, meaning they are not always on the best terms with the police, although these ructions are only temporary. Corpses have a horribly habit of not staying in one place and I would never get in a car driven by Helene as I am not sure my stomach or nerves would be left in one piece. I would not advocate mirroring the alcohol consumption of some of her characters, but I would certainly recommend trying some of Georgiana’s books.
Author No. 4: Anthony Gilbert
Real name: Lucy Beatrice Malleson
Lucy published over 60 mysteries. 10 of these formed her Scott Egerton series, whilst her biggest series featured lawyer Arthur Crook, which includes 51 titles. She also wrote standalones, many of which were published under the name of Anne Meredith. The British Library reprinted one of these in their Crime Classics series, Portrait of a Murderer (1933). Lucy also published stories using the pseudonym J. Kilmeny Keith. Her decision to try her hand at writing mysteries, seems to have stemmed from watching a performance of John Willard’s The Cat and the Canary in the 1920s.
To date I have read 17 books by Lucy, the majority of which come from her Arthur Crook series. I recently reviewed Something Nasty in the Woodshed Something Nasty in the Woodshed (1942) by Anthony Gilbert(1942), which I highly recommend and if you are looking for some more books to try by her then I also posted a top 10 list earlier this month.
On the whole I have enjoyed her mysteries, but it would appear that Dr Watson Jun, who reviewed some of her books for The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, did not. It perhaps doesn’t help that he dislikes her main series character Arthur Crook. On the 14th June 1947 he shared that:
‘I am, I confess, more sharply allergic to Arthur Crook, the raucous, red-headed Cockney tout whom Mr Gilbert continues offensively to describes as a detective, than to any half-dozen chawbacons of the Yard chosen at random.’
Moreover, the reviewer also seems to erroneously pigeonhole Lucy’s writing style as Had-I-But-Known. Some of her books have elements of this but it is a misnomer to say it is her full style. Lucy’s writing style is much more varied in my opinion.
I think it is Dr Watson Jun’s dislike of the books, which causes him to get quite so aggrieved at Lucy using a pseudonym. On the 19th March 1949 he declared:
‘“Anthony Gilbert” is the impudent pen-name of a male impersonator called Lucy Beatrice Malleson. It is time the Board of Trade took action to prevent this sort of thing.’
You do want to tell him to take a chill pill at this point!
Looking online it appears that some of Lucy’s mysteries were serialised in Australian newspapers such as the Western Mail in Perth, which serialised her novel, Footsteps Behind Me (1953).
Moreover, if you wish to read a three-minute thriller by Lucy, then use this link to for the very short story ‘Eye at the Window’. I am not sure if it was published anywhere else under a different name, but the link takes you to The Sydney Morning Herald printing of the story from the 29th of March 1954. It is not an overly complicated story, involving an unpleasant invalid and her worn out sister who has given up her job to look after her, but the tale has a nice sting in its final line, which does leave you kicking yourself.
Author No. 5: Guy Cullingford
Real name: Constance Lindsay Taylor
Constance wrote 12 mysteries between 1948 and 1991. So far, I have read three of these: Post Mortem (1953), Conjurer’s Coffin (1954) and Framed for Hanging (1956). I also have Bother at the Barbican (1991) on my TBR pile, a tale which Martin Edwards has recommended on his blog. Of the three titles that I have read, Post Mortem is my favourite, but it is a pain of a book to recommend. It has a high concept premise, which was the main draw for me, but for every reader who would like to know what it is before reading, there will be another reader who would regard this information as a spoiler. So, if you fit the former camp feel safe to proceed to my review. Incidentally, H. R. F. Keating put this title on his “The 100 Best Crime and Mystery Books” list. In his article, ‘The Crime Fiction of Guy Cullingford’, Richard Dalby suggested that Constance:
‘[…] has gained a reputation for decidedly unusual and unorthodox suspense stories, all of which are wholly original and very different from each other. She – yes, she – never reuses a plots or detectives, and the absence of a regular “crime-solver” may be the chief reason why Cullingford’s books are not as well-known […]’.
Constance would not be the first author to fare less well in terms of longevity due to eschewing series characters, but I guess the lack of a series character can be more freeing when it comes to plotting and story construction. Sometimes a series sleuth can be quite constraining, and more than one crime writer has got fed up with their lead detective. Famous examples include Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie.
Author No. 6: Peter Curtis
Real name: Norah Lofts
Norah Lofts mostly wrote historical fiction under her own name, and it is for this that she is best known. However, under the pseudonym of Peter Curtis, she published four mysteries. These were called:
- Dead March in Three Keys (1940) [Also published under the titles of No Question of Murder (1959) and Bride of Moat House (1975).]
- You’re Best Alone (1943)
- Lady Living Alone (1945)
- The Devil’s Own (1960)
So arguably the change in author name, may have been influenced by the desire to differentiate between two contrasting bodies of work. Dead March in Three Keys is the only title by Norah that I have read, its title being a nod to the three different narrators who tell the story. I think this tale demonstrates Norah’s ability as a storyteller. In some ways it is not the most surprising of reads, but it still has a couple of twists up its sleeves.
Norah Lofts appears to have been an animal lover, owning dogs throughout her life, including a Scottish terrier and a Dachshund.
Author No. 7: Patrick Laing
Real name: Amelia Reynolds Long
Amelia had a number of pennames, many of which were male, as aside from using the name Patrick Laing, she also wrote as Peter Reynolds and Adrian Reynolds. She penned over 30 mysteries, and she wrote a lot in the field of science fiction. Her first mystery, Behind the Evidence (1936) was inspired by the real-life Lindbergh kidnapping case. The only book by her that I have read is Stone Dead (1947) printed under her Patrick Laing pseudonym. It is a university-set detective story, and it includes a blind detective, who is also called Patrick Laing. At least the reader only had one name to remember! I enjoyed this book, and writing this post has reminded me that I need to try more by her, although alas her work is not the easiest to track down at a reasonable price.
Chet Williamson, who visited this author twice, wrote an article about these occasions and the things they talked about. The article is called ‘A Visit with Amelia Reynolds Long’ (1976). One passage which interested me was when Amelia talked about the perceived difficulties of being a female writer:
‘When I asked Miss Long if she felt that being a woman had held her back in the pulp market, she replied: “I don’t think being a woman held me back with any of the science fiction magazines, but I’ll tell you where it does hit you — on the translation rights of certain countries, especially the Spanish-American countries…if they know something is written by a woman, they’ll simply give your initials and make believe you’re a man. That used to annoy me. I know there was always that buggaboo of a woman writing for a man’s magazine, but in WEIRD TALES and the science fiction magazines, I don’t think it ever did make much difference. I know it never did in my case, and I don’t think it did with any of the others.”’
I was surprised to learn that science fiction magazines were more open to female authors, as sci-fi has at times been more associated with men. In conversation with Chet, Amelia also mentioned her preferences regarding mystery subgenres:
‘Though Miss Long wrote mystery shorts during the thirties, she became disenchanted as the hard-boiled school began to take over the genre: “A lot of mystery writers resented that hard-boiled school; I know I did myself. My agent tried to get me to write it, and I said I simply can’t do it. To me the real mystery story is the mystery story with a good puzzle, and is not necessarily steeped in blood, and a lot of the mystery writers felt the same way. There was quite a division of thought there for some time.”’
Author No. 8: Alan Amos
Real name: Kathleen Moore Knight
Kathleen Moore Knight is another crime writer who used an additional penname in order to publish mysteries which differed from her main body of work. Kathleen under her own name wrote a 15-book series featuring Elisha Macomber and a four-book series starring a publicity firm-running amateur sleuth called Margot Blair. I have read one book from each, The Trouble at Turkey Hill (1949) and Exit a Star (1941). Both series have distinct social and geographical milieus, which contrast to the four books she wrote as Alan Amos. These four: Pray for a Miracle (1941) a.k.a. Jungle Murder, Borderline Murder (1947), Panic in Paradise (1951) and Fatal Harvest (1957) have grittier environments as their setting and have more of a thriller leaning. Pray for a Miracle is set in a Guatemalan jungle, and is more of an espionage mystery, involving a secret radio station which broadcasts Nazi propaganda. Meanwhile Borderline for Murder is centred on a man recently released from prison, who is out for revenge on the person who got him wrongfully incarcerated in the first place. The settings seem to be Texas and Mexico. Panic in Paradise is set in Panama and the plot in this tale is all about hunting for hidden Spanish treasure.
Last month I read Fatal Harvest, where violent and sudden death strikes on a sugarcane plantation. This could have easily become a run-of-the-mill thriller, but I think Kathleen avoids this rut well, throwing in some interesting character complications and she uses the setting very effectively, with it shaping the motivations for the crimes as well as the dramatic ending.
In 1946, Paul F. Kneeland published an interview with Kathleen, in the Boston Daily Globe, entitled ‘Kathleen Moore Knight Pictured Corpses All Over Martha’s Vineyard – Then Wrote’. The title of the piece is a reference to how Kathleen got into writing detective and mystery stories. Paul writes that:
‘With the crash and ’29 depression, she fled to Martha’s Vineyard and there, actually from sheer boredom and want of something better to do, wrote her first murder mystery. “One day I happened to be looking out of the window and wondering what it would be like if the island homes around me housed murderers; in my own imagination I scattered the landscape with corpses and before I knew it, a detective story was born,” Miss Knight recalled. “That was in March – six months later the book was completed and with one revision, accepted as a Crime Club selection by Doubleday Doran. They’ve published everything I’ve written ever since.”’
Paul goes on to further add that:
‘She also has no use for the old – and now unreliable – “whodunits” of the locked door, “had-I-but-known,” secret room, and “the-butler-did-it” schools of sleuthing.
“I avoid those hackneyed threadbare situations along with the death-by-unusual-secret-weapon sort of thing because smart editors just won’t stand for them,” she added. “And I have long since learned that it takes more than a puzzle, the pieces of which must be fitted together by the reader, before a detective story writer can boast that he is having a wonderful crime.”’
You can read the rest of the interview by following this link.
Author No. 9: Maxwell March
Real name: Margery Allingham
Margery is one of the best-known authors on this list, her longevity stemming from her Albert Campion mysteries. However, in the 1930s she decided to produce three thrillers for the serialisation market under the name of Maxwell March. They were called: Other Man’s Danger (1933) a.k.a. The Man of Dangerous Secrets, Rogue’s Holiday (1935) and The Shadow in the House (1936) a.k.a. The Devil and Her Son. All three appeared in Answers Magazine.
Last month I read Other Man’s Danger and unfortunately it is not one I can honestly recommend. The plot is riddled with cliches. The stereotypes of the thriller debilitate this story a lot, which I was surprised by as I remembered enjoying The Tiger in the Smoke (1952). The storyline and character development are both superior in this later title. Was greater effort put in because it was part of the Campion series, I wonder? One interview I would quite like to read is the one Margery had with John le Carré, albeit in a postal format, in 1965, which was published in Ladies Home Journal.
Author No. 10.: Ellis Peters
Real name: Edith Mary Pargeter
We have reached the final name in our list. Ellis was the name of Edith’s brother, and this penname was crafted to differentiate her crime fiction from her other writing. She wrote a number of series including the 13-book Inspector George Felse series and her series Cadfael stories which ran for 20 novels. My experience of Edith’s work has mostly been limited to her short stories in various anthologies, although last month I read A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs (1965). In some ways I felt this was mis-marketed as a mystery, as the primary drive behind the plot is a teenage boy coming to terms with who his father is. It is more of a novel with a mystery than a mystery novel.
In 1993 Robbie Cranch published an interview she had with Ellis Peters. You can find the full text for ‘Mystery in the Garden: Interview with Ellis Peters’ by using this link. Robbie’s devotes some space to discussing herbs, as they are a key part of Brother Cadfael’s daily duties, when he is not solving crimes. 78 different types of plant are apparently mentioned in this historical series and when asked about her own gardening Edith replied:
“I’m sorry to tell you I’m not an herb gardener myself,” she confesses. “Oh, I have a few kitchen herbs–I can snip off a sprig of rosemary, and one or two other things, but I don’t have a proper herb garden […] I have quite a large garden, but I have someone else tending it now, you know. I go out and deadhead the roses now and then, and I sit in it and admire. I’m not able to do much more.”
Edith then goes on to mention in the interview the real-life inspirations behind Cadfael’s herb garden. There were two places, one near London and one in Cambridge.
Robbie concludes her piece with an extract from an essay Edith wrote for Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers:
‘Apart from treating my characters with the same respect as in any other form of novel, I have one sacred rule about the thriller. It is, it ought to be, it must be, a morality. If it strays from the side of the angels, provokes total despair, wilfully destroys–without pressing need in the plot–the innocent and the good, takes pleasure in evil, that is unforgivable sin. I use the word deliberately and gravely. It is probably true that I am not very good at villains. The good interest me so much more.’
I would be interested to know what others think about the final two lines, as I have not read enough by Edith to reliably comment on it.
If you enjoy Edith’s work and also like cats then you might be interested to learn that in October 2025 an anthology is being released called, A Case of Claws: Classic Tales of Feline Crime. This is being published by Profile Books and the collection will include stories by Ellis Peters, Patricia Highsmith, Edmund Crispin and Catherine Aird.
Are there any authors you are keen to track down? Are there any other authors you would like to add to the list?
P. S. I didn’t include E. C. R. Lorac, as whilst the initials made others presume she was a male crime writer, I wanted to choose examples where a full male name is used, as arguably “E” could stand for a male or female name.