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Anthony Berkeley Cox | |
|---|---|
 Anthony Berkeley Cox at Sherborne School in 1911 | |
| Born | (1893-07-05)5 July 1893 Watford, England |
| Died | 9 March 1971(1971-03-09) (aged 77) |
| Other names | Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts |
| Occupation | crime writer |
Anthony Berkeley Cox (5 July 1893 – 9 March 1971) was an Englishcrime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, includingFrancis Iles,Anthony Berkeley andA. Monmouth Platts.[1]
Anthony Berkeley Cox was born 5 July 1893 atWatford, son of medical practitioner Dr Alfred Edward Cox (1861–1936), of Monmouth House and The Platts, two adjoining properties on Watford High Street, and Sybil Maud (died 1924), née Iles, who ran a school at Monmouth House. His paternal grandfather was aDerby wine merchant. Cox had two younger siblings: Stephen Henry Johnson Cox (1899–1960), who became a schoolmaster, and Cynthia Cicely Cox (born 1897).
With his brother, Cox was educated at Rose Hill School, Banstead, Surrey, and from the age of 14 was educated atSherborne School[2] and thenUniversity College, Oxford.
As an ex-cadet of theOfficer Training Corps, Cox was commissioned as atemporarysecond lieutenant in theBritish Army on 19 September 1914.[3] He was promoted to temporarylieutenant on 4 November 1915.[4] He served in 7th Battalion of theNorthamptonshire Regiment during theFirst World War. He suffered from agas attack in France, which caused long-term damage to his health.[5][6] Following the attack, he was invalided back to England and then worked a number of desk jobs for the Army.[6] On 15 April 1919, he was transferred to the unemployed list, therefore ending his military service.[7]
Following the war, he worked as a journalist for many years, contributing to such magazines asPunch[5] andThe Humorist.
His first novel,The Layton Court Mystery, was published anonymously in 1925. It introduced Roger Sheringham, the amateur detective who features in many of the author's novels including the classicPoisoned Chocolates Case. In 1930, Berkeley founded theDetection Club in London along withAgatha Christie,Freeman Wills Crofts and other established mystery writers.
His 1932 novel (as "Francis Iles"),Before the Fact was adapted into the 1941 classic filmSuspicion, directed byAlfred Hitchcock, starringCary Grant andJoan Fontaine.Trial and Error was turned into the unusual 1941 filmFlight from Destiny starringThomas Mitchell.
He was a friend ofEM Delafield and they each dedicated a book to the other (Jill andThe Wychford Poisoning Case). She gently ragged him in herProvincial Lady Goes Further by having people tell her that "Francis Iles" is reallyAldous Huxley orEdith Sitwell. The opening sentence ofMalice Aforethought has been described as "immortal":[8] "It was not until several weeks after he had decided to murder his wife that Doctor Bickleigh took any active steps in the matter."
In 1938, he took up book reviewing forJohn O'London's Weekly andThe Daily Telegraph, writing under his pen name Francis Iles. He also wrote for theSunday Times in the 1940s and for theManchester Guardian, laterThe Guardian, from the mid-1950s until 1970. A key figure in the development of crime fiction, he died in 1971 in St John's Wood, London. His estate was valued at £196,917 (£2,321,878 in 2023).[9]
