Peter Cheyney
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| Reginald (Evelyn Peter) Southouse Cheyney | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 22, 1896 London, UK |
| Died | June 26, 1951 (aged 55) London, UK |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | British |
| Writing period | 1925-1951 |
| Genres | Crime |
Peter Cheyney (February 22, 1896 — June 26, 1951) was a British crime fiction writer who flourished between 1936 and 1951. Cheyney is the author of hard-boiled short stories and novels, some of which were adapted to film; his character Lemmy Caution was famously appropriated by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard for the science fiction movie Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution.
His other memorable creation is Slim Callaghan, a somewhat disreputable private detective most at home in the less savory sections of London. Although his novels sold in the millions during his lifetime, he is almost forgotten today, and his works are mostly out of print.
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[edit] Life and career
Born in 1896, Peter Cheyney lived only 55 years, until June of 1951. For much of his early life, Cheyney occupied himself as a police reporter and crime investigator, and until he became successful as a crime novelist, he was often quite poor. But this changed in 1936, when Cheyney wrote his first novel, the Lemmy Caution thriller This Man Is Dangerous, and followed it up with the first Slim Callaghan novel, The Urgent Hangman, in 1938. The immediate success of these two novels assured a flourishing new career, and Cheyney abandoned his work as a freelance investigator.
A meticulous researcher, Cheyney kept a massive set of files on criminal activity in London until they were destroyed during the Blitz in 1941; but Cheyney's innate industry soon had him back on track, rebuilding his decimated collection of clippings. Cheyney dictated his work, although he did not (as did Edgar Wallace) dictate at a breakneck pace. Typically, Cheyney would "act out" his stories for his secretary, who would copy them down in shorthand and type them up later.
The Slim Callaghan novels and short stories move along at a brisk and confident clip, and his "Dark" series was widely praised during World War II for bringing a new degree of realism to espionage fiction. Indeed, in their casual brutality and general "grubbiness," the "Dark" novels seem to have prefigured much of the Cold War fiction that held readers spellbound in the mid to late 1960s. No less an authority than Anthony Boucher placed these later works in the context of Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad.
In particular, the characterization of Ernest Guelvada in the "Dark" series is one of the high points of Cheyney's career. A cheerfully sadistic war operative whose sole objective is to decimate the ranks of opposing forces in a leisurely but thorough fashion, the loquacious Guelvada still finds the time to dress immaculately, drink immoderate amounts of hard liquor, and still remain an effective counter agent.
From all accounts, Cheyney lived much like his characters, always on edge, working too hard, living the fast and careless life with a breathtaking abandon that eventually caught up with him. A good deal of this tension and haste is found in his writing, often to good effect; one sometimes gets the feeling that Cheyney is simply dictating to fill up the page, but even as he does so, the attention he pays to minute details of everyday existence in the process makes his characters and their world all the more real to his readers.
Cheyney published one semi-autobiographical volume, Making Crime Pay, and after his death, at least two biographical essays appeared in posthumous collections. One essay, by Viola Garvin, is entitled simply "Peter Cheyney," and appears in Velvet Johnnie, a posthumous collection of Cheyney's short stories (London: Collins, 1952, pages 7-32). The other essay is anonymous, but perhaps a bit more clear-eyed; it appears in the Cheyney collection Calling Mr. Callaghan (London: Todd, 1953, pages 7-16). In addition, Cheyney published one volume of short stories, advice to critics, and a few poems in No Ordinary Cheyney (London: Faber and Faber, 1948).
[edit] List of works
[edit] Lemmy Caution
- This Man Is Dangerous (1936) — filmed as Cet homme est dangereux (France; Jean Sacha, 1953)
- Poison Ivy (1937) — filmed as La môme vert-de-gris (France; Bernard Borderie, 1953)
- Dames Don't Care (1937) — filmed as Les femmes s'en balancent (France; Bernard Borderie, 1954)
- Can Ladies Kill? (1938)
- Don't Get Me Wrong (1939) — filmed as Vous pigez (France; Victor Trivas and Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, 1955)
- You'd Be Surprised (1940)
- Your Deal, My Lovely (1941) — filmed as À toi de faire, mignonne (France; Bernard Borderie (1963)
- Never a Dull Moment (1942)
- You Can Always Duck (1943)
- I'll Say She Does! (1945) — filmed as Comment qu'elle est! (France; Bernard Borderie, 1960)
[edit] Slim Callaghan
- The Urgent Hangman (1938)
- Dangerous Curves (1939) (US title: Callaghan)
- You Can't Keep the Change (1940)
- It Couldn't Matter Less (1941) (also published as Set-Up for Murder)
- Sorry You've Been Troubled (1942) (US title: Farewell to the Admiral)
- The Unscrupulous Mr. Callaghan (1943)
- They Never Say When (1944)
- Uneasy Terms (1946)
[edit] The Dark Series
- Dark Duet (1942) (also as The Counterspy Murders)
- The Stars Are Dark (1943) (also as The London Spy Murders)
- The Dark Street (1944) (also as The Dark Street Murders)
- Sinister Errand (1945) (also as Sinister Murders)
- Dark Hero (1946) (also as The Case of the Dark Hero)
- Dark Interlude (1947) (also as The Terrible Night)
- Dark Wanton (1948) (also as Case of the Dark Wanton)
- Dark Bahama (1950) (also as I'll Bring Her Back)
[edit] Other novels
- 1940 Another Litlle Drink (Premeditated Murder, A Trap for Bellamy)
- 1947 Dance without Music
- 1948 Try Anything Twice (Undressed to Kill)
- 1949 One of Those Things (Mistress Murder)
- 1949 You Can Call It a Day (The Man Nobody Saw)
- 1950 Lady, Behave! (Lady Beware)
- 1951 Ladies Won't Wait (Cocktails and the Killer)
[edit] Short Story Collections
- 1937 You Can’t Hit a Woman
- 1939 Knave Takes Queen (enlarged edition, 1950)
- 1941 Mr. Caution – Mr. Callaghan
- 1944 Making Crime Pay (collected stories, articles, radio plays)
- 1945 Night Club (Dressed to Kill)
- 1947 The Curiosity of Etienne MacGregor (The Sweetheart of the Razors)
- 1948 No Ordinary Cheyney
- 1952 Velvet Johnnie
- 1953 G-man at the Yard
- 1953 Calling Mr. Callaghan
- 1954 The Adventures of Julia (US title: The Killing Game)
- 1954 He Walked in Her Sleep (MacTavish)
- 1954 The Mystery Blues (Fast Work)
