- Born
- Died
- Nicknames
- J.J. Marric
- Tex Riley
- Jeremy York
- Ken Ranger
- Anthony Morton
- William K. Reilly
- Richard Martin
- Peter Manton
- Kyle Hunt
- 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).
- IMDb mini biography by: Fiona Kelleghan <fkelleghan@aol.com>
- SpousesDiana Hamilton Farrell(1973 - June 9, 1973) (his death)Evelyn Jean Fudge(1941 - 1970) (2 children)Margaret Elizabeth Cooke(1935 - 1939) (divorced, 1 child)Jeanne Williams(? - 1973) (divorced)
- Awarded the MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1946 for services in the United Kingdom's National Savings Movement during World War II.
- Wrote over 565 books under 25 pseudonyms.
- His fourth wife, whom he married a month before he died, was the nurse who had looked after him after he suffered a heart attack a year earlier.
- His pseudonym J J Marric, which he used for his Commander George Gideon books, was derived from the initial of his first name (John), the initial of his wife's middle name (Jean), and the first three letters of his two sons' names (MARtin and RIChard).
- Apart from crime novels, the author also wrote science fiction, romance and westerns.
- Sometimes I fail in what I'm trying to do--perhaps it's more than I can cope with. I've no idea ahead of time of what will develop; the plot and any other ideas all happen simultaneously in the . . . if you'll forgive the pompous phrase . . . in the "act of creation", as it were . . . None of it is easy.
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