Mystery Monday: Edwy Searles Brooks
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| Edwy Searles Brooks |
Authors have always used pen names. Some do so for anonymity
to protect their identity while others to write in another genre or topic. Edwy
Searles Brookes was a British novelist who used countless nom de plumes: Berkeley Gray, Victor Gunn (perfect for a mystery writer!),
Rex Madison, Carlton Ross, and Reginald Browne just to name a few.
Born in a suburb of London in
1889, Brooks found success early in life. His first publication, a short story
titled “Mr. Dorien’s Missing £2000” was issued by the magazine Yes and No when he was 17. A 3,000 word
piece, it was his first paid “gig,” and he earned thirty shillings. Three years
later he was tapped by The Gem to
write a serial named “The Iron Island.” The premise is that of a man who is marooned
on an island by a gang of crooks. The man, Philip Graydon, manages to escape
and return to England where he exacts revenge on the men who put him on the
island. The story ran for two years!
Released from The Gem when the editor was let go, Brooks fumbled a bit to find
other publishers who would take his stories. His personal papers includes
numerous rejection letters from this time period. The following summer he was
able to sell a series of Clive Deering detective stories to the magazine Cheer Boys Cheer, but sales for the next
three years were intermittent.
Then came Nelson Lee and Sexton
Blake. In 1915, The Nelson Lee Library was
launched, and The Sexton Blake Library to his
dossier. Brooks was a prolific writer, and he partnered
with his wife Frances to complete each story. By all reports, he was a plotter,
meticulously outlining each book. He created character “bibles” in order to
keep an account of each one to ensure accuracy in any future references to
them. An inveterate researcher, the shelves in Brooks’s office included train
timetables and medical books – mostly about poisons.
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