Arthur Cecil Gask (10 July 1869 – 25 June 1951) was an English dentist and novelist. He is one of the earliest authors of Australian-based crime fiction.

Early life

Gask was born on 10 July 1869 at St Marylebone, London, fourth of five children of Charles Gask, merchant, and his wife Fanny, née Edis.Australian Dictionary of Biography
/ref> Gask, accompanied by his second wife, their two sons, and by a daughter of his first marriage, emigrated to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in 1920, where he set up practice as a dentist. He was among the first in the city to carry out extractions with gas.

Career

He began writing crime fiction while waiting for his patients and in 1921 paid for the publication of his first novel, ''The Secret of the Sandhills'', which was an immediate success, which he partly attributed to generous reviews by S. Talbot Smith. Over a period of thirty years Gask wrote over thirty books as well as contributing short stories to '' The Mail'' in Adelaide. Most of his novels described the activities of a Sydney detective, Gilbert Larose, in solving crimes. Gask's work was translated into several European languages, serialised in newspapers and broadcast on radio. He also wrote short stories.

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The Advertiser Tuesday 26 June 1951. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45731353

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...

, also an admiring reader, called to see Gask at Gask's home in Walkerville, an Adelaide suburb, when he was in Adelaide in August 1950. Gask was reported to have been delighted when, within a few hours after his arrival in Adelaide, Lord Russell called in and spent about an hour and a half with him. Russell confided that he was a reader of Mr. Gask's books in England, and said that now they were so near to each other he felt he really must make his acquaintance. Lord Russell was 78 at the time and Arthur Gask was 81.'' The Advertiser'' Tuesday 8 August 1950 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44934248 Gask's sister,

Lilian Gask Lilian Fanny Gask (1865, Marylebone17 November 1942, Camberwell) was an author of children's books. She was the eldest of six children of Charles Gask, merchant, and his wife Fanny, née Edis. Her brother, Arthur Gask, was also a writer. In ...

, was also a writer. When nearly 80, Gask was still turning out two 80,000-words novels a year,'' The Advertiser'' Wednesday 12 July 1950 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article44916465 and was reported to have got out of bed to write 23 pages and complete his final novel, ''Crime After Crime''. Arthur Gask died on 25 June 1951, in an Adelaide private hospital.

Bibliography

Gilbert Larose series *''Cloud the Smiter'', 1926 *''The Dark Highway'', 1928 *''The Lonely House'', 1929 *''The Shadow of Larose'', 1930 *''The House on the Island'', 1931 *''Gentlemen of Crime'', 1932 *''The Hidden Door'', 1934 *''The Judgment of Larose'', 1934 *''The Poisoned Goblet'', 1935 *''The Hangman's Knot'', 1936 *''The Master Spy'', 1937 *''The Night of the Storm'', 1937 *''The Grave-Digger of Monks Arden'', 1938 *''The Fall of a Dictator'', 1939 *''The Vengeance of Larose'', 1939 *''The House on the Fens'', 1940 *''The Tragedy of the Silver Moon'', 1940 *''The Beachy Head Murder'', 1941 *''His Prey Was Man'', 1942 *''The Mystery of Fell Castle'', 1944 *''The Man of Death'', 1946 *''The Dark Mill Stream'', 1947 *''The Unfolding Years'', 1947 *''The House with the High Wall'', 1948 *''The Storm Breaks'', 1949 *''The Silent Dead'', 1950 *''The Vaults of Blackarden Castle'', 1950 *''Marauders by Night'', 1951 *''Night and Fog'', 1951 *''Crime Upon Crime'', 1952 (Posthumous) Other Novels *''The Secret of the Sandhills'', 1921 *''The Red Paste Murders (US Title: Murder in the Night)'', 1923 *''The Secret of the Garden'', 1924 *''The Jest of Life'', 1936 Short Stories *''The Martyr on the Land'', (1935) *''The Passion Years'', (1936) *''The Destroyer'', 1939 *''The Will'', (1944) *''Buggy's Babies'', (1944) *''Ghosts'', (1944) *''Seedtime and Harvest'', (1944) *''The Amazing Adventure of Marmaduke'', (1944) *''The Lottery Ticket'', (1944) *''The Mark of Honor'', (1944) *''The Hatton Garden Crime'', (1945) *''The Way of Chance'', (1945) *''Black Market'', (1945) *''The Bishop's Dilemma'', (1948)

References

External links

*Works b
Arthur Gask
a
Project Gutenberg Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gask, Arthur 1869 births 1951 deaths 20th-century English novelists Australian crime fiction writers English short story writers Writers from London English male short story writers English male novelists 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English male writers English crime fiction writers People from Marylebone