John Creasey

John Creasey was the seventh of nine children born to Joseph Creasey, a coachmaker, and Ruth Creasey. They were very poor, and John suffered a bout of polio, resulting in his not learning to walk until he was six. He was ten when a schoolmaster suggested he had a gift for writing. John left school at the age of fourteen, trying to become a professional writer, while his family mocked him for his dreams and his employers generally fired him for neglecting his work. For 14 years Creasey was unable to sell a story, in the process collecting 743 rejection slips. His first sale was the tenth novel he completed: "Seven Times Seven" (1932). He wanted to support himself as a writer, but he did the math: a mystery writer may publish two books a year without overcrowding the marketplace, and he needed to sell more than that, so he began to use pseudonyms. Among the ones he used were Gordon Ashe; Margaret Cooke; M.E. Cooke; Henry St. John Cooper; Norman Deane; Elise Fecamps; Robert Caine Frazier; Patrick Gill; Michael Halliday; Charles Hogarth (with Ian Bowen); Brian Hope; Colin Hughes; Kyle Hunt; Abel Mann; Peter Manton; J.J. Marric; James Marsden; Richard Martin; Anthony Morton; Ken Ranger; William K. Reilly; Tex Riley; and Jeremy York. An incredibly prolific writer who turned out work at an astonishing rate, he earned riches and fame. He purchased a 42-room manor in England and a Rolls-Royce. He dabbled in politics and contributed to refugee work and famine relief. He was married to Margaret Elizabeth Cooke for four years, to Evelyn Fudge for 29 years, to Jeanne Williams briefly, and to Diana Hamilton Farrell a month before his death. He had three children. He founded the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain and was also an officer of the Mystery Writers of America. In 1946 he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).