Julian Symons

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Julian Gustave Symons (1912 - 1994) was a British writer, best known for crime fiction. He also wrote social and military history, biography and on crime and literature, and was a poet.

[edit] Life and Work

Symons was born in London. He was a younger brother, and later the biographer, of the writer A. J. A. Symons.

He left school at 14. He founded the poetry magazine Twentieth Century Verse in 1937, editing it for two years. During World War II he was in the British Army to 1944. After a period as an advertising copywriter, he became a full-time writer in 1947. During his career, he won two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America and, in 1982, received the MWA's Grand Master Award.

[edit] Works

Confusions About X (Fortune Press 1938) poems
An Anthology of War Poetry (1942) editor
The Second Man (1943) poems
The Immaterial Murder Case (1945)
A Man Called Jones (1947)
Bland Beginning (1949)
Selected Writings of Samuel Johnson (1949) editor
A J A Symons: His Life & Speculations (1950) biography
The Thirty-First of February (1950)
Charles Dickens (1951)
Thomas Carlyle. The life and ideas of a prophet (1952?) biography
The Broken Penny (1953)
The Narrowing Circle (1954)
Horatio Bottomley (1955) biography
Criminal Acts (1955)
The Paper Chase (1956) as Bogue's Fortune (US)
The Colour of Murder (1957)
Carlyle: Selected Works (1957) editor
The Gigantic Shadow (1958) as The Pipe Dream (US)
The General Strike - A Historical Portrait (1959)
A Reasonable Doubt (1960) non-fiction
The Thirties: a Dream Revolved (1960) revised 1975
The Progress of a Crime (1960) (Winner, 1961 Edgar Award, Best Novel)
Murder! Murder! (1961) stories
The Killing of Francie Lake (1962) as The Plain Man (US)
Buller’s Campaign (1963) military history
The End of Solomon Grundy (1964)
The Belting Inheritance (1965)
England's Pride: The Story of the Gordon Relief Expedition (1965) military history
Francis Quarles Investigates (1965) stories
Crime and Detection: An Illustrated History from 1840 (1966)
Critical Occasions (1966) essays
The Man Who Killed Himself (1967)
The Man Whose Dreams Came True (1968)
Essays & Biographies by A.J.A. Symons (1969) editor
The Man Who Lost His Wife (1970)
Between the Wars (1972) history
Notes From Another Country (1972) stories
The Players and the Game (1972)
Bloody Murder - From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel: A History (1972) (US title: Mortal Consequences) (Special Edgar Award, 1973)
The Plot Against Roger Rider (1973)
A Reflection on Auden (1973) broadsheet poem
A Three - Pipe Problem (1975)
The Angry 30s (1976) history
How to Trap a Crook (1977) stories
The Blackheath Poisonings (1978)
Verdict of Thirteen: a Detection Club Anthology (1978)
The Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe (1978)
Conan Doyle - Portrait of an Artist (1979)
Edgar Allan Poe Selected Tales (1980) editor
Sweet Adelaide (1980)
Agatha Christie - the Art of Her Crimes (1981)
Critical Observations: Diverse Essays (1981)
Great Detectives - Seven Original Investigations (1981)
The Detling Murders (1982) as The Detling Secret (US)
The Tigers of Subtopia (1982) stories
Crime and Detection Quiz (1983)
The Name of Annabel Lee (1983)
New Poetry 9, an Arts Council Anthology (1983) editor
1948 and 1984. The Second Orwell Memorial Lecture (1984)
Classic Crime Omnibus (1984) editor, stories
Dashiel Hammett (1985)
The Criminal Comedy of the Contented Couple (1985) as A Criminal Comedy (US)
Two Brothers. Fragments of a Correspondence (1985)
Makers of the New: The Revolution in Literature, 1912-1939 (1987)
Oscar Wilde: A problem in Biography (1988) Lurcy Lecture, Amherst College
The Kentish Manor Murders (1988)
Death's Darkest Face (1990)
Somebody Else (1990) stories
The Thirties and The Nineties (1990)
Portraits of The Missing: Imaginary Biographies (1991)
Does Literature Exist? (1992) Lurcy Lecture, Amherst College
Something Like a Love Affair (19920
Criminal Practices -Symons on Crime Writing 60s to 90s (1994)
Playing Happy Families (1994)
The Man Who Hated Television (1995) stories, also as Did Sherlock Holmes Met Hercule...?
A Sort of Virtue: A Political Crime Novel (1996)
Hell Gate