#126: Classic Crime Authors and Their Secret Identities – A Quiz!

/ JJ
Secret Identities!

Art by Danny Haas

Have you ever noticed how many crime and detective fiction authors from the Golden Age published books under an assumed name?

I mean, sure, some of them published under two or more names where one of those was their real name — John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson, Clayton Rawson/Stuart Towne, Anthony Berkeley/Frances Iles, etc. — and in some cases two authors adopted a pseudonym presumably for ease — Kelley Roos, Ellery Queen, Patrick Quentin, etc. — but those aside, a huge number of people still only published under a made up name.

I get they had their reasons — keeping different careers separate, for instance, so that their serious academic works wasn’t conflated with their criminal puzzles — and I’m not claiming there’s anything sinister or dismissive about it, I just…thought I’d mention it.

And so, a test of your devotion!  Here are the birth names of twenty authors of classic detective fiction who published under an assumed name…do you know the nom de plume of each scribe?  Each can reasonably be identified as a writer of detective fiction through their output and/or as a member of the Detection Club, though some might be a touch obscure — extra kudos for getting #1, #7 and #9.  No internetting, obviously, and no prize, purely for fun:

 

  1. Winifred Ashton

  2. Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher

  3. Rupert Croft-Cooke

  4. Cecil Day-Lewis

  5. Dora Amy Elles

  6. Ernest Elmore

  7. Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark

  8. Elizabeth MacKintosh

  9. Morna Doris MacTaggart

  10. Mary Christianna Milne

  11. Robert Bruce Montgomery

  12. Mary Patricia Plangman

  13. Edith Caroline Rivet

  14. Alfred Walter Stewart

  15. J.I.M. Stewart

  16. Cecil John Charles Street

  17. Ernest Basil Charles Thornett

  18. Henning Nelms

  19. William Edward Vickers

  20. William Anthony Parker White

 

Yeah, it’s lo-fi.  That’s part of the charm.  Technology is for whimps.

Answers will go up…oh, at some point.  Friday?  Let’s say Friday.

15 thoughts on “#126: Classic Crime Authors and Their Secret Identities – A Quiz!”

  2. I got 8 of them:
    Winifred Ashton

    Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher — Henry Wade

    Rupert Croft-Cooke – Leo Bruce

    Cecil Day-Lewis – Nicholas Blake

    Dora Amy Elles

    Ernest Elmore

    Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark – Cyril Hare

    Elizabeth MacKintosh – Joshephine Tey

    Morna Doris MacTaggart

    Mary Christianna Milne

    Robert Bruce Montgomery – Edmund Crispin

    Mary Patricia Plangman

    Edith Caroline Rivet

    Alfred Walter Stewart

    J.I.M. Stewart – Micheal Innes

    Cecil John Charles Street – John Rhode

    Ernest Basil Charles Thornett

    Henning Nelms

    William Edward Vickers

    William Anthony Parker White

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  3. I’m getting rusty:

    1.
    2.
    3. Leo Bruce
    4. Nicholas Blake
    5.
    6.
    7. Cyril Hare
    8.
    9. Elizabeth Ferrars
    10. Christianna Brand
    11. Edmund Crispin
    12.
    13.
    14.
    15. Michael Innes
    16. John Rhode (a.k.a Miles Burton)
    17.
    18. Hake Talbot
    19. Roy Vickers (?)
    20. Anthony Boucher

    That’s about half of the list. I’m not rusty. I thoroughly suck.

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  4. 1. Clemence Dane
    2. Henry Wade
    3. Leo Bruce
    4. Nicholas Blake
    5. Patricia Wentworth
    6. John Bude
    7. Cyril Hare
    8. Josephine Tey
    9.
    10. Christianna Brand
    16. John Rhode
    19. Roy Vickers

    Was No. 1 really a mystery writer though or did I get it wrong?

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  5. Here is my attempt:
    1. Clemence Dane
    2. Henry Wade
    3.
    4. Nicholas Blake
    5. Patricia Wentworth
    6. John Bude
    7. Cyril Hare
    8. Josephine Tey
    9.
    10.
    11. Edmund Crispin
    12.
    13.
    14.
    15. Michael Innes
    16. John Rhode
    17. Rupert Penny
    18.
    19.
    20.
    Definitely a good morning mental workout.

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    • Figured it was about time I lightened up, feels like I’ve done some Heavy Blogging lately. I’m sure no-one else has noticed, but it felt nice doing something so…innocuous…for once

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  6. I got 40% only …

    1.
    2.
    3. Leo Bruce
    4. Nicholas Blake
    5.
    6.
    7.
    8. Josephine Tay
    9.
    10.
    11. Edmund Crispin
    12.
    13.
    14.
    15. Michael Innes
    16. John Rhode
    17.
    18. Hake Talbot
    19.
    20. Anthony Boucher

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  8. Pingback: #128: Classic Crime Authors and Their Secret Identities – A Quiz! The Answers! | The Invisible Event

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