Anthony Berkeley Cox
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Anthony Berkeley Cox (July 5, 1893 – March 9, 1971) was a British crime fiction author, born in Watford, England. He wrote under several names, his most famous works being under the name Francis Iles. Other pseudonyms he used included Anthony Berkeley (The Poisoned Chocolates Case) and Monmouth Platts.
[edit] List of books written as Anthony Berkeley
- The Wychford Poisoning Case [1926] (RS)
- Roger Sheringham and the Vane Mystery (aka The Mystery at Lover's Cave) [1927] (RS)
- The Silk Stocking Murders [1928] (RS)
- The Poisoned Chocolates Case [1929] (RS)
- The Piccadilly Murder [1929]
- The Second Shot [1930] (RS)
- Top Storey Murder (aka Top Story Murder) [1931] (RS)
- Murder in the Basement [1932] (RS)
- Jumping Jenny (aka Dead Mrs Stratton) [1933] (RS)
- Panic Party (aka Mr Pidgeon's Island) [1934] (RS)
- Trial and Error [1937]
- Not to be Taken (aka A Puzzle in Poison) [1938]
- Death in the House [1939]
- The Roger Sheringham Stories [1994]
- The Avenging Chance [2004]
Books labelled (RS) featured Berkeley's main series detective, Roger Sheringham
Cox's first book, The Layton Court Mystery, also features Sheringham, but was published anonymously.
[edit] List of books written as Francis Iles
- Malice Aforethought (1931)
- Before the Fact (1932)
- As for the Woman (1933)
Cox/Iles was quite prominent amongst crime writers of his time and was associated with others in this field, including Christie, Sayers and Chesterton, in the Detection Club.
One of the books which Cox wrote as Francis Iles, Malice Aforethought (1931), may have contained the precursor of James Thurber's "Walter Mitty" (1941). Iles' 'Walter Mitty' was a Dr. Bickleigh. Both Mitty and Bickleigh were dominated by strong wives. But whereas Mitty desperately needed looking after (and his fantasies were, simply, denial of this reality), Bickleigh had married his wife for money and status and had to tolerate her dominance until he took steps to dispose of her (hence the book's title). Bickleigh's fantasies were an escape from harsh reality and in a couple of pages (Chapter 2) Iles has him winning an international cricket match for England almost single-handed, performing life-saving surgery on the King, writing Bickleigh's Symphony in C, fighting in the War: 'Field Marshall Bickleigh .... enlisted on the day the war broke out as a humble private; the first occasion on which he won a VC was...'
