E.R. Punshon, in full Ernest Robertson Punshon, (born East Dulwich, London 25 June 1872 – died Streatham, London 23 October 1956) was an English novelist and literary critic of the early to mid 20th century. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Robertson Halkett and Robertson Halket. Primarily writing on crime and deduction, he enjoyed some literary success in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, he is remembered, in the main, as the creator of Police Constable Bobby Owen, the protagonist of many of Punshon’s novels, who was eventually promoted to sergeant, inspector, superintendent and, finally, commander. A popular Scotland Yard detective, Owen appeared in 35 novels from 1933 to 1956. Punshon reviewed many of Agatha Christie’s novels for The Guardian on their first publication. Punshon was also a prolific writer of short stories, and a selection of his crime and horror fiction has recently been collected together. (Source: Wikipedia)
E. R. Punshon, Bobby Owen, and Art
Bobby Owen series: Information Received (1933); Death Among The Sunbathers (1934); Crossword Mystery (1934); Mystery Villa (1934); Death of A Beauty Queen (1935); Death Comes to Cambers (1935); The Bath Mysteries (1936); Mystery of Mr. Jessop (1937); The Dusky Hour (1937); Dictator’s Way (1938); Comes a Stranger (1938); Suspects – Nine (1939); Murder Abroad (1939); Four Strange Women (1940); Ten Star Clues (1941); The Dark Garden (1941); Diabolic Candelabra (1942); The Conqueror Inn (1943); Secrets Can’t be Kept (1944); Night’s Cloak (1944); There’s a Reason for Everything (1946); It Might Lead Anywhere (1946); Helen Passes By (1947); Music Tells All (1948); The House of Godwinsson (1948); So Many Doors (1949); Everybody Always Tells (1950); The Golden Dagger (1951); The Secret Search (1951); The Attending Truth (1952); Strange Ending (1953); Brought to Light (1954); Dark Is The Clue (1955); Triple Quest (1955); and Six Were Present (1956).
In bold the books I already have on my TBR pile. I wonder why I haven’t read more Punshon books to date.
Read further:
E.R. Punshon by Martin Edwards
TomCat at Beneath the Stains of Time has reviewed a fair amount of books by E.R. Punshon
J F Norris did the same at Pretty Sinister Books
Les Blatt at Classic Mysteries
And Nick Fuller at The Grandest Game in the World
Curtis Evans at The Passing Tramp has also reviewed The Dusky Hour (1937) and So Many Doors (1949)
(Facsimile Dust Jacket, Ernest Benn Limited (UK), 1933)
Information Received is the first of E.R. Punshon’s acclaimed Bobby Owen mysteries, first published in 1933 and the start of a series which eventually spanned thirty-five novels.
Description: In his London townhouse, city magnate Sir Christopher Clarke is found lying murdered. At the other end of the house his safe hangs open and rifled, and earlier in the day he had visited his solicitors in order to make a drastic change in his will. Later it is discovered that there has been fraud connected with the dead man, and this is but one of the many complications with which Superintendent Mitchell is faced. Fortunately he has the assistance of young Constable Owen, a talented young Oxford graduate who, finding all other careers closed to him by the ‘economic blizzard’ of the early thirties, has joined the London Police force. (Source: Dean Street Press).
A Crime is Afoot 
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