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Vincent Starrett | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1886-10-26)October 26, 1886 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | January 5, 1974(1974-01-05) (aged 87) Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Resting place | Graceland Cemetery |
| Occupation | Newspaperman, writer |
| Genre | Detective fiction,fantasy,horror |
Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett (/ˈstærɪt/;[1][2] October 26, 1886 – January 5, 1974), known asVincent Starrett, was a Canadian-born American writer, newspaperman, and bibliophile.
Charles Vincent Emerson Starrett was born above his grandfather's bookshop inToronto, Ontario, Canada. His father moved the family toChicago in 1889 where Starrett attendedJohn Marshall High School.
Starrett landed a job as a cub reporter with the ChicagoInter-Ocean in 1905. When that paper folded two years later he began working for theChicago Daily News as a crime reporter, a feature writer, and finally a war correspondent inMexico from 1914 to 1915. Starrett turned to writing mystery and supernatural fiction forpulp magazines during the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1920, he wrote aSherlock Holmes pastiche entitledThe Adventure of the Unique "Hamlet". Starrett on at least one occasion said that the press-run was 100 copies, but on others claimed 200; a study of surviving copies by Randall Stock documents 110.[3] This story involved the detective investigating a missing 1602 inscribed edition of Shakespeare's playHamlet.[4]
Starrett's most famous work,The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, was published in 1933. Following that, Starrett wrote a book column, "Books Alive," for theChicago Tribune. He retired after 25 years of the column in 1967. He often mentioned Sherlock Holmes in these columns, which appeared in the book section of the Sunday newspaper. These references were collected and annotated by Karen Murdock and published under the title "Sherlock Alive" in 2010. Starrett was one of the founders of The Hounds of the Baskerville (sic), a Chicago chapter ofThe Baker Street Irregulars.
Starrett's horror/fantasy stories were written primarily for the pulp magazineWeird Tales, and are collected inThe Quick and the Dead, (Arkham House, 1965).[5] His story "Penelope," published in the May 1923 issue ofWeird Tales, was also featured in the anthologyThe Moon Terror (1927) anonymously edited byFarnsworth Wright, and published by the magazine.
Starrett's other writing included poetry, collected inAutolycus in Limbo, (Dutton, 1943), detective novels, such asMurder on 'B' Deck, (Doubleday, 1929, and others).[5]
He had also created his own detective character, Chicago sleuth Jimmie Lavender, whose adventures usually first appeared in the pulp magazineShort Stories. The nameJimmy Lavender (sic) was that of an actual pitcher for the Chicago Cubs; Starrett wrote to ask the ball player for permission to use his name for agentleman detective, which the pitcher granted. The stories are collected inThe Case Book of Jimmie Lavender (Gold Label, 1944).
Starrett was a major enthusiast of Welsh writerArthur Machen and was instrumental in bringing Machen's work to an American audience for the first time.[6]
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His influential weekly column "Books Alive" ran in theChicago Tribune for 25 years.[7] He also wroteBest Loved Books of the 20th Century, a collection of 52 essays discussing popular works, published in 1955.[8]
He died in Chicago on January 5, 1974, and was buried atGraceland Cemetery next to his wife, Rachel Latimer Starrett.[9][5]
A complete edition of Starrett's works is being published byGeorge Vanderburgh'sBattered Silicon Dispatch Box, a print-on-demand publisher, with 22 of a projected 25 volumes already in print. A publication in the Vincent Starrett Memorial Library isSherlock Alive, compiled and edited by Karen Murdock, and first printed in August 2010.Sherlock Alive is a collection of theSherlockian references from Starrett's "Books Alive" column.
Among his film adaptions his 1934 story "Recipe for Murder", first published inRedbook magazine in one installment, was filmed asThe Great Hotel Murder by Fox in 1935.[10]
Media related toVincent Starrett at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toVincent Starrett at Wikiquote
Works by or aboutVincent Starrett atWikisource
