Berkeley, Anthony

Early life

Anthony Berkeley Cox was born on July 5, 1893 in Watford (Herfordshire, England). As a child, he attended secondary school in his hometown, as well as Sherborne College in Wessex. The peak of his education was University College, Oxford, where he received a classical education.

During the First World War, he fell into a German gas attack, the consequences of which he felt until his death. Returning from the war, Anthony married Margaret Fearnley Farrar (Margaret Fearnley Farrar). This marriage lasted just over 14 years and in 1931 broke up. A year later, the writer married a woman again, the details of which are very foggy, biographers even differ on the exact definition of her last name. According to some data, this is Helen Macgregor (Helen Macgregor), according to others - Helen Peters (Helen Peters). But in any case, the marriage with her did not last ten years. All this time, Anthony Berkeley worked, since the main income was brought to him not by literature. He was the head of various companies that sell real estate or provide advertising services. He even opened his own office, which, in accordance with the norms of that time, was carried by his initials and the name of AB Cox, Ltd.

However, not much is known about his personal life either, since he carefully guarded and hid her from any external encroachment outside the walls of the fashionable London district, known as St. John Wood. Classical education allowed Berkeley to try himself and on the journalistic path, the future writer occasionally produced witty articles for a humorous journal, and when after 1925, during literary boom, literary creativity began to bring significant income to the authors, Berkeley began to take the pen more and more often.

Despite the closeness in his personal life, Anthony Berkeley was very sensitive to his work. Like Charles Dickens and Conan Doyle , he actively used reading suggestions in his novels. The first detective story "The Secret of Layton-court" was released in 1925. From 1925 until the early 40s, Berkeley wrote about 20 detective stories, three of which were published under the pseudonym of Francis Isles. The genius of Berkeley was noticed by all the leading authors and critics of the criminal genre. For example, one of the giants of detective, D. D. Carr , called the novel The Case of Poisoned Chocolates one of the best detective stories ever written.

Working in the classical direction, Berkeley constantly noted the danger of all sorts of style limitations, approval of a single plot scheme, etc. The protagonist of a number of his works, the writer Roger Sheringham, the creator of the Club of amateur criminologists, in his investigation of criminal secrets, who prefers to rely on intellect and intuition. Roger Sheringham is a very arrogant and self-assured forensic lover who often gets into the mess and offers the wrong versions, and the London police often dismiss them as too abstruse. Berkeley created this image as an anti-detective image. Initially, Sheringham is unpleasant, badly brought up, intrusive and rude, but at the request of the reading public, Berkeley softens the character of his character.

Late life and death

From 1938, Berkeley worked as a columnist for detective literature, usually under the pen name Francis Isles. He has worked closely with publications such as John O'London's Weekly, the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times. From the mid-50s to 1970, Berkeley collaborated with the Manchester Guardian, later renamed The Guardian.

Anthony Berkeley Cox died on March 9, 1971 at the age of 77 in London, England.

Detective Club

The British craze for the detective genre did not pass Berkeley, who not only became interested in, but began to actively practice opuses in the fashionable genre. Moreover, Anthony Berkeley was one of the founders of the Detective Club , and in 1929 published his masterpiece , where club members appear as a series of disguised fictional characters. The influence of Berkeley on the Detective Club can still be found, since the oath that all those who join the club have brought and still have been brought is nothing but an ingenious parody of the text of the church rite of confirmation written by the writer with his friends.

Berkeley's works are invariably included in various anthologies published by the club, and therefore he has always been associated with this organization. In 1939, in the work of Berkeley comes the turning point, he publishes his last classic detective story. For the rest of his life, he publishes his works under the pseudonym Francis Iles (Francis Iles) changing the canons and breaking the established traditions of the detective story. Under the pseudonym there are not so many novels, but they all turn out to be milestones in the history of the detective genre, since they are, in fact, the first psychological detective stories. In the same period, the writer is actively working on various London newspapers and magazines, publishing in them journalism. During this period, Berkeley is trying to comprehend his passion for the crime genre and publishes a number of analytical articles, of which perhaps the most famous is “Was Crippen a Murderer?”, Examining Dr. Harvey Crippen , the famous killer.

Like Anthony Berkeley

Works on Roger Sheringham

• Mystery of Layton Court ( eng. The Layton Court Mystery ) ( 1925 )
• Wichford Poisoning ( Eng. The Wychford Poisoning Case ) ( 1926 )
• The Mystery of the Vane Family ( Eng. Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery ) ( 1927 ); It was also published in Russian as "The Secret of the Death of Miss Vane."
• The Silk Stocking Kills ( Eng. The Silk Stocking Murders ) ( 1928 )
• The case of poisoned chocolates ( eng. The Poisoned Chocolates Case ) ( 1929 ). Based on the story "The punishing incident."
• The second shot ( eng. The Second Shot ) ( 1930 )
• Murder on the top floor ( eng. Top Storey Murder ) ( 1931 )
• Murder in the basement ( Eng. Murder in the Basement ) ( 1932 )
• Jumping ( Eng. Jumping Jenny ) ( 1933 )
• Frightened company ( eng. Panic Party ) ( 1934 )
• The Roger Sheringham Stories ( 1994 , posthumous)
• The Avenging Chance and Other Mysteries from Roger Sheringham's Casebook ( 2004 , posthumous)

Ambrose Chittervik

• Murder on Piccadilly ( English The Piccadilly Murder ) (1929)
• Trial and Error ( eng. Trial and Error ) (1937)

Beyond the series

• Professor On Paws (1926)
• Mr Priestley's Problem (1927)
• Caution: poison! ( eng. not to be taken ) (1937)
• Death in the House (1939)
• "The Scoop" (a common work of members of the Detective Club , published in parts in 1930 - 1931 )
• "Behind the Screen" (the total work of members of the Detective Club , published in parts in 1930 - 1931 )
• Admiral’s last voyage (The Floating Admiral) (1931); the overall work of the members of the Detective Club

Stories

• Mr. Simpson followed the dogs , Eng. Mr Simpson Goes to the Dogs ( 1934 )
• A policeman knocks only once ( eng. The Policeman Only Taps Once ) ( 1936 ); entered the collection " Six against Scotland Yard ", published under the auspices of the Detective Club.
• Publicity Heroine ( 1936 )
• Thomas Meagher Eats an Apple ( 1938 )

Like Francis Isles

Novels

• Intentional malice ( eng. Malice Aforethought ) ( 1931 )
• Married to death ( eng. Before the Fact ) ( 1932 )
• The Rattenbury Case ( 1936 )
• As For The Woman ( 1939 )

Stories

• Outside the Law ( 1934 )
• Dark Journey ( 1935 )
• It Takes Two to Make a Hero ( 1943 )

Like A. Monmouth Platts

• Cicely Disappears ( 1927 )

• IMDb. List of famous films and television films based on the works of E. Berkeley