Jacques Heath Futrelle (April 9, 1875 – April 15, 1912) was an American journalist andmystery writer. He is best known for writing shortdetective stories featuring ProfessorAugustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, also known as "The Thinking Machine" for his use of logic. Futrelle died in the sinking of theRMSTitanic.
Futrelle left theBoston American in 1906 to writenovels. He had a harbor-view house built inScituate, Massachusetts, which he called "Stepping Stones", and spent most of his time there until his death in 1912.[1] His last work,My Lady's Garter, was published posthumously in 1912. His widow inscribed in the book, "To the heroes of theTitanic, I dedicate this my husband's book", under a photo of him.[1]
In 1895, he married fellow writerLily May Peel with whom he had two children, Virginia and Jacques "John" Jr. His great-grandson is writer David Futrelle.[1]
Returning from Europe aboard theRMSTitanic, Futrelle, a first-class passenger, refused to board a lifeboat, insisting Lily do so instead, to the point of forcing her in. She remembered the last she saw of him: he was smoking a cigarette on deck withJohn Jacob Astor IV. He perished in theAtlantic and his body was never found.[2][3] On July 29, 1912, Futrelle's mother, Linnie Futrelle, died in her Georgia home; her death was attributed to grief over her son.[4]
In this literary experiment, The Thinking Machine provides a rational solution to the seemingly impossible and supernatural events of a ghost story written by Mrs. Futrelle.[14][15]
^abFutrelle, Jacques. "The Grinning God".Tales of the Thinking Machine.University of Adelaide. Archived fromthe original on June 20, 2019. RetrievedSeptember 15, 2021. A note at the head of Part II implies publication inThe Sunday Magazine (undated online):"Editor's Note. – Mrs. Futrelle undertook to set up a problem which The Thinking Machine could not solve. 'Wraiths of the Storm', in The Sunday Magazine last week, presented what she thought to be a mystery story impossible of solution. Printer's proofs of the story were submitted to Mr. Futrelle, who, after frequent consultations with Professor Van Dusen – The Thinking Machine – evolved 'The House that Was' as the perfect solution."
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