Biography

Christianna Brand was born on December 17, 1907 in Malaya. She was a writer, known for Nanny McPhee (2005), Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010) and Green for Danger (1946). She was married to Roland Lewis. She died on March 11, 1988.

She served as the 1972-1973 Chair of the Crime Writers' Association and received many nominations for the Edgar Allan Poe Award. She also wrote under the pseudonyms of Mary Roland, China Thomson, Mary Ann Ashe, and Annabel Jones.

Before getting married and writing, she endured a succession of low-paying jobs, mostly in sales, but also including model, professional ballroom dancer, receptionist, secretary, shop assistant, interior designer, and governess. It has been alleged that she wrote her first book Death in High Heels (1947), while working as a salesgirl, as a way to fantasize about killing a co-worker.

Greatly respected Malaya-born British author, one of the pioneers of the medical thriller; her highly honored 1944 novel Green for Danger (1946) preceded by decades the popular works of Patricia Cornwell and Robin Cook. Green for Danger (1946) was honored as a 1987 Critic's Choice among H. R. F. Keating's 100 Best Crime & Mystery Books, and by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association's 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century, selected in the year 2000. She created the character of Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police, modeled on her father-in-law, William Lewis, who was a doctor. She died in the arms of her husband of fifty years.