E. Phillips Oppenheim

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Edward Phillips Oppenheim (October 22, 1866 – February 3, 1946), was an English novelist, in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction including thrillers. Featured on the cover of Time magazine on Sept 12, 1927, he was the self-styled "prince of storytellers." He composed more than a hundred novels, mostly of the suspense and international intrigue nature, as well as romances, comedies, and parables of everyday life. Perhaps Oppenheim's most enduring creation is the character of General Besserley, the protagonist of General Besserley's Puzzle Box and General Besserley's New Puzzle Box (one of his last works).

Oppenheim's work possesses a unique charm, featuring protagonists who delight in Epicurean meals, surroundings of intense luxury, and the relaxed pursuit of criminal practice, on either side of the law.

1 Life
2 Further reading
3 Bibliography
4 External links

[edit] Life

Born in London, England, his father, Edward John Oppenheim was a leather merchant. His mother was Henrietta Susannah Temperley Budd. "Oppy" as he was called when young attended the Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College in Leicester. When he was sixteen he left school to assist his father in his leather business, which he stayed in for more than twenty years. When his father died, Oppenheim began to extricate himself from the business to concentrate on his writing. His home was The Cedars, Main Street in Evington from 1897 to 1905. His first novel was about England and Canada, called Expiation (1887); followed by such titles as Monk of Cruta (1894), Mysterious Mr Sabin (1898), A Millionaire of Yesterday (1900), The Yellow Crayon (1903), The Malefactor (1906), Jeanne Of The Marshes (1909), The Illustrious Prince (1910), Havoc (1911), and The Tempting of Tavernake (1912).

Oppenheim travelled in England and the continent on business, and he went to the United States in 1892 where he met his future wife Elsie Clara Hopkins of Easthampton, Massachusetts, with whom he would have one daughter, Josephine. They settled in the Leicester area and it was a happy marriage for many years, despite allegations that Oppenheim had affairs. In 1905 the family moved to rural Sheringham in the northern reaches of Norfolk County. A year later, having already published more than thirty books, his move to the country and life as a country squire brought on a prolific period of writing.

Cover of A Maker of History from a circa 1906 New York publication

In 1914 when World War I broke out, Oppenheim was appointed to the Ministry of Information in London, for which he would travel with journalists to the front in France. After the war the Oppenheim's moved to London, then Devon and Surrey counties, then on to Norfolk where they bought Reepham House. But they would not stay long as memories of the glamorous Côte d'Azur were calling Oppenheim back to France. His increasing income from book sales helped the family to make the decision. Some of his next titles to be released were The Vanished Messenger (1914), Mr Grex of Monte Carlo (1915), The Kingdom of the Blind (1917), The Zeppelin's Passenger (1918), The Great Impersonation (1920) which sold over a million copies, The Devil's Paw (1920), and The Evil Shepherd (1922).

The Oppenheim's sold their home and purchased Villa Deveron, at Cagnes-sur-Mer between Cannes and Nice, where Oppenheim could play golf, gamble, and indulge in a favourite pastime, sailing his yacht, Echo I. He continued to produce short stories and novels which he would dictate to his secretary, the majority of which he sold to American magazine publishers in advance of book sales. On 12 September, 1927 Time magazine featured Oppenheim on its cover for a second time.

To avoid the death duties in France the Oppenheim's sold their Villa and in 1934 they bought a home called `Le Vauquiédor' in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, dividing their time between there and the Riviera. In 1938 they purchased a home near Grasse on the Riviera. When France collapsed the next year, they were temporarily trapped, but eventually escaped via Spain and Portugal and returned to England in 1941. They were officially "home" when in 1945, despite their frail health, they hired a yacht to travel on to Guernsey and, with some difficulty, repossessed their home on the island. Envoy Extraordinary was published in 1937, and Oppenheim's autobiography The Pool of Memory was published in 1941.

After years of prostate problems, E. Phillips Oppenheim died on 3 February 1946 in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands. Oppenheim left behind several screen adaptations and many of his stories were made into movies.

[edit] Further reading

Autobiography, The Pool of Memory (1941)
The sole biography of Oppenheim is Prince of Storytellers: The Life of E. Phillips Oppenheim by Robert Standish, pseudonym of Digby George Gerahty. London: Peter Davies 1957.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

Expiation. 1887
The Peer and the Woman. 1895
A Daughter of the Marionis. 1895
False Evidence. 1896
A Modern Prometheus. 1896
The Mystery of Mr. Bernard Brown. 1896
The Wooing of Fortune. 1896
The Postmaster of Market Deighton. 1897
The Amazing Judgment. 1897
Mysterious Mr. Sabin. 1898
A Daughter of Astrea. 1898
As a Man Lives. 1898
Mr. Marx's Secret. 1899
The Man and His Kingdom. 1899
The World's Great Snare. 1900
A Millionaire of Yesterday. 1900
The Survivor. 1901
Enoch Strone (aka A Master of Men). 1901
A Sleeping Memory (aka The Great Awakening). 1902
The Traitors. 1902
A Prince of Sinners. 1903
The Yellow Crayon. 1903
The Betrayal. 1904
Anna the Adventuress. 1904
A Maker of History. 1905
The Master Mummer. 1905
A Lost Leader. 1906
The Tragedy of Andrea. 1906
The Malefactor (aka Mr. Wingrave, Millionaire). 1906
Berenice. 1907
The Avenger [aka The Conspirators]. 1907
The Great Secret [aka The Secret]. 1908
The Governor. 1908
The Distributors [aka Ghosts of Society]. 1908 (as Anthony Partridge)
The Missioner. 1908
The Kingdom of Earth [aka The Black Watcher] 1909 (as Anthony Partridge)
Jeanne of the Marshes. 1909
The Illustrious Prince. 1910
Passers By. 1910 (as Anthony Partridge)
The Lost Ambassador [aka The Missing Delora]. 1910
The Golden Web. 1911 (as Anthony Partridge)
The Moving Finger [aka A Falling Star]. 1911
Havoc. 1911
The Court of St. Simon. 1912 (as Anthony Partridge)
The Lighted Way. 1912
The Tempting of Tavernake. 1912
The Mischief Maker. 1913
The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton. 1913
The Way of These Women. 1914
A People's Man. 1914
The Vanished Messenger. 1914
The Black Box. 1915
The Double Traitor. 1915
Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo. 1915
The Kingdom of the Blind. 1916
The Hillman. 1917
The Cinema Murder [aka The Other Romilly]. 1917
The Pawns Count. 1918
The Zeppelin's Passenger [aka Mr. Lessingham Goes Home]. 1918
The Wicked Marquis. 1919
The Box with Broken Seals [aka The Strange Case of Mr. Jocelyn Thew]. 1919
The Curious Quest [aka The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss.] 1919
The Great Impersonation. 1920
The Devil's Paw. 1920
The Profiteers. 1921
Jacob's Ladder. 1921
Nobody's Man. 1921
The Evil Shepherd. 1922
The Great Prince Shan. 1922
The Mystery Road. 1923
The Wrath to Come. 1924
The Passionate Quest. 1924
Stolen Idols. 1925
Gabriel Samara, Peacemaker. 1925
The Golden Beast. 1926
Prodigals of Monte Carlo. 1926
Harvey Garrard's Crime. 1926
The Interloper [aka The Ex-Duke]. 1927
Miss Brown of X. Y. O. 1927
The Light Beyond. 1928
The Fortunate Wayfarer. 1928
Matorni's Vineyard. 1928
The Treasure House of Martin Hews. 1929
The Glenlitten Murder. 1929
The Million Pound Deposit. 1930
The Lion and the Lamb. 1930
Gangster's Glory [aka Inspector Dickens Retires]. 1931
Up the Ladder of Gold. 1931
Simple Peter Cradd. 1931
The Man from Sing Sing [aka Moran Chambers Smiled]. 1932
The Ostrekoff Jewels. 1932
Murder at Monte Carlo. 1933
Jeremiah and the Princess. 1933
The Gallows of Chance. 1934
The Man without Nerves [aka The Bank Manager]. 1934
The Stranger Boarders of Palace Crescent. 1934
The Spy Paramount. 1934
The Battle of Basinghall Street. 1935
Floating Peril [aka The Bird of Paradise]. 1936
The Magnificent Hoax [aka Judy of Bunter's Buildings]. 1936
The Dumb Gods Speak. 1937
Envoy Extraordinary. 1937
The Mayor on Horseback. 1937
The Colossus of Arcadia. 1938
The Spymaster. 1938
And Still I Cheat the Gallows. 1939
Sir Adam Disappeared. 1939
Exit a Dictator. 1939
The Strangers' Gate. 1939
Last Train Out. 1940

[edit] Short story collections

Of these 37 collections of short stories, 26 of which have been issued in book form in the United States, most of the volumes are series with sustained interest in which one group of characters appear throughout the various stories.