Donald Serrell Thomas (18 July 1934 – 20 January 2022) was a British crime writer. His work primarily included
Victorian-era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardi ...
historical, crime and
detective fiction
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...
, as well as books on factual crime and criminals, in particular several academic books on the history of crime in London. He wrote a number of biographies, two volumes of poetry, and also edited volumes of poetry by
John Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
and the
Pre-Raphaelites.
Biography
Donald Thomas was born in
Weston-super-Mare
Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmixon ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
on 18 July 1934. He was educated at
Queen's College, Taunton
Queen's College is a co-educational independent school located in Taunton, the county town of Somerset, England. It is a day/boarding school for children aged 0–18. The school incorporates nursery, pre-prep, Prep, and senior schools. The curre ...
, before completing his
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The l ...
in the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
(1953–1955) and then going up to
Balliol College
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
(1955–1958). He currently holds a personal chair as
Professor Emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of English Literature at
Cardiff University
, latin_name =
, image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University
, motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord
, mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord
, established = 1 ...
.
[Donald Thomas at A.M. Heath](_blank)
. Accessed 9 February 2008
Early works
Thomas's earliest works seem to have been in the area of legal and historical fact, notably revised texts of
Thomas Bayly Howell
Thomas Bayly Howell FRS (6 September 1767 – 13 April 1815) was an English lawyer and writer who edited and lent his name to ''Howell's State Trials''.
Life
Thomas Bayly Howell was born in Jamaica. His family returned to England in 1770 to set ...
's collection of state trials, originally collected at the behest of
William Cobbett
William Cobbett (9 March 1763 – 18 June 1835) was an English pamphleteer, journalist, politician, and farmer born in Farnham, Surrey. He was one of an agrarian faction seeking to reform Parliament, abolish "rotten boroughs", restrain foreign ...
and published between 1809 and 1826. Among his earliest forays into the world of fiction was ''Sergeant Verity and the Cracksman'', 1974, published under the pseudonym Francis Selwyn. By the early 1980s, however, he had largely shed the Selwyn pseudonym (returning to it briefly in the late 1980s for some non-fiction works, and once in 2000, for another "Verity" novel), and began writing under his own name, Donald (S.) Thomas, switching from academic study and biography to Sherlockiana and crime fiction, all underpinned with his deep knowledge of the times and cultures of which he writes.
Biographies and fact
He has written a number of books, mostly novels, on a variety of subjects predominantly set in Victorian England. He has also written a small number of non-fiction works dealing with similar subjects/settings, among them a study of the Victorian underworld, and biographies of
Robert Browning
Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...
, the
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusat ...
,
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel '' Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...
, and
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
.
His 1978 (rev. ed. 2001) biography of Admiral
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Marquess of Maranhão (14 December 1775 – 31 October 1860), styled Lord Cochrane between 1778 and 1831, was a British naval flag officer of the Royal Navy, mercenary and Radical politician. He was a ...
highlights the characteristics of that individual which served in large part as inspiration both for
C. S. Forester's
Horatio Hornblower, and for
Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during t ...
's
Jack Aubrey
John "Jack" Aubrey , is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his rise from lieutenant to rear admiral in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The twenty (and one incomple ...
. In 1994, his ''Hanged in Error?'' provided an overview/investigation as to the likely guilt of seven individuals all hanged in the UK before its abolition as a means of
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
in 1965. The book dealt with the cases of
Timothy Evans
Timothy John Evans (20 November 1924 – 9 March 1950) was a Welshman who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife (Beryl) and infant daughter (Geraldine) at their residence in Notting Hill, London. In January 1950, Evans was tried, and was c ...
, John Williams (alias George MacKay, hanged in 1913 for the fatal shooting of Inspector Arthur Walls in Eastbourne during a burglary attempt),
Edith Thompson
Edith Jessie Thompson (25 December 1893 – 9 January 1923) and Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters (27 June 1902 – 9 January 1923) were a British couple executed for the murder of Thompson's husband Percy. Their case became a ''cause c ...
Robert Hoolhouse Neville Heath
Neville George Clevely Heath (6 June 1917 – 16 October 1946) was an English murderer who killed two young women in the summer of 1946. He was executed in Pentonville Prison, London, in October 1946.
Early life and career
Neville Heath was bor ...
, Charles Jenkins (hanged in 1947 together with Christopher Geraghty for fatally shooting Alec de Antiquis following a botched London jewel robbery), and
James Hanratty
James Hanratty (4 October 1936 – 4 April 1962), also known as the A6 Murderer, was a British criminal who was one of the final eight people in the UK to be executed before capital punishment was effectively abolished. He was hanged at Bedfo ...
. (N.B. This is not the same as the similarly titled 1961 book ''Hanged in Error'' by
Leslie Hale, which contains a different set of case histories.)
In academic circles, he is especially well known for his studies of the criminal underworld of London from Victorian times, through World War II to the
Kray twins. He has written seven biographies and a handful of other biographical studies, as well as fictionalised biographies of individuals such as
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...
. His biography of
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
is recommended by ''Representative Poetry Online'', and his other biographical works can be found on many academic reading lists.
He has edited volumes of
Everyman's Library
Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent (itself later a division of Weidenfeld & Ni ...
on poets ranging from
John Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
to the Post-Romantics, and also offered a translation of Michel Millot and Jean L'Ange's bawdy 17th century novel ''L'École des filles'', which is described as "both an uninhibited manual of sexual technique and an erotic masterpiece of the first order" on its back cover.
Fiction
In fiction terms, he is perhaps best known for his more recent works, in particular a series of
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
pastiches, beginning with 1997's ''The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes''. He has also written a number of other titles, and three series featuring the main characters of:
:''Alfred Swain'', an inspector of Scotland Yard.
:''Sonny Tarrant'', a "gangland capo", and
:''Sgt. William Clarence Verity'', a "Sergeant in Scotland Yard's 'Private Clothes Detail'" who investigates the Victorian criminal underground of London, c.1850.
(Verity was created under the pseudonym Francis Selwyn.) His other novels include ''The Raising of Lizzie Meek'', "based on the scandals surrounding the Victorian miracle-worker
Father Ignatius of Capel-y-ffin".
Thomas is represented by Bill Hamilton of A.M. Heath & Company, Ltd.
Later life and death
Having retired from Cardiff University, he remained affiliated there, as an Associate Research Professor in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy.
[News Centre: "War-time crime on the home front" Review of ''An Underworld at War''](_blank)
Accessed 9 February 2008 In 2005, as Personal Chair in the School of English, Communication and Philosophy at Cardiff University, he "donated a selection of his personal archive of research papers, used in writing his series of acclaimed books on the Underworld in Victorian and World War II eras to the University
f Cardiffs Special Collections and Archives."
Some of his last works included a study on censorship in modern Britain, reviewed as "provocative, timely and disturbing" by
Iain Finlayson in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
''.
Thomas died on 20 January 2022, at the age of 87.
Awards and nominations
As a poet, Thomas won the
Eric Gregory Award
The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seven ...
in 1962 for his collection ''Points of Contact''.
[Donald Thomas at ''Fantastic Fiction''](_blank)
Accessed 9 February 2008
His biography of
Robert Browning
Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...
''A Life Within Life'' was a runner-up for the
Whitbread Prize
The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...
, and his ''Victorian Underworld'' was shortlisted for the
Gold Dagger Award.
Partial bibliography
As ''Francis Selwyn''
Fiction
=''Sgt. Verity''
=
*''Sergeant Verity and the Imperial Diamond'' (André Deutsch 1975)
**(
Stein and Day
Stein and Day, Inc. was an American publishing company founded by Sol Stein and his wife Patricia Day in 1962. Stein was both the publisher and the editor-in-chief. The firm was based in New York City, and was in business for 27 years, until clos ...
1976)
*''Sergeant Verity and the Cracksman'' (André Deutsch 1974)
**(Futura 1975)
**''Cracksman on Velvet'' (Stein and Day 1974)
*''Sergeant Verity Presents His Compliments'' (André Deutsch 1977)
**(Stein and Day 1977)
*''Sergeant Verity and the Blood Royal'' (André Deutsch 1979)
**(Stein and Day 1979)
*''Sergeant Verity and the Swell Mob'' (André Deutsch 1980)
**(Stein and Day 1981)
*''The Hangman's Child'' (Robert Hale 2000)
=Other?
=
*''Villa Rosa'' (Blue Moon/Lyle Stuart 1989)
Non-fiction
*''
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
's Englishman: The Crime of
Lord Haw-Haw
Lord Haw-Haw was a nickname applied to William Joyce, who broadcast Nazi propaganda to the UK from Germany during the Second World War. The broadcasts opened with "Germany calling, Germany calling", spoken in an affected upper-class English acc ...
'' (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1987)
**(Penguin Books 1993)
*''Rotten to the Core?: The Life and Death of
Neville Heath
Neville George Clevely Heath (6 June 1917 – 16 October 1946) was an English murderer who killed two young women in the summer of 1946. He was executed in Pentonville Prison, London, in October 1946.
Early life and career
Neville Heath was bor ...
'' (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1988)
*''Gangland: The Case of
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...
and
Craig'' (Routledge 1988)
**''Nothing But Revenge: The Case of Bentley And Craig'' (Penguin 1991)
As ''Donald (Serrell) Thomas''
Poetry
*''Points of Contact: a collection of poems, 1958–1961'' 65pp. (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1963)
*''Welcome to the Grand Hotel'' 68pp. (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1975, 2006)
Fiction
=''Alfred Swain''
=
*''Belladonna: A
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
Nightmare'' (Macmillan 1984)
**''Mad Hatter Summer'' (Viking Press 1983)
**''Belladonna'' (Papermac 1988)
*''Jekyll, Alias Hyde:
A Variation'' (Macmillan 1988)
** (St. Martin's Press 1988)
*''
The Ripper's Apprentice'' (Macmillan 1986)
** (St. Martin's Press 1989)
*''The Arrest of Scotland Yard'' (Macmillan 1993)
=''Sonny Tarrant''
=
*''Dancing in the Dark'' (Macmillan 1992)
** (St. Martin's Press 1994)
*''Red Flowers for Lady Blue'' (Macmillan 2000)
**(Pan Books 2001)
=''Sherlock Holmes''
=
*''The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes'' (Macmillan 1997)
*''Sherlock Holmes and the Running Noose'' (Macmillan 2001) (UK edition of ''Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt'', see below)
**''Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt'' (Carroll & Graf 2002) (US edition of ''Sherlock Holmes and the Running Noose'', see above)
*''The Execution of Sherlock Holmes'' (Pegasus 2007)
*''Sherlock Holmes and the King's Evil'' (Pegasus 2009)
*''Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly'' (Pegasus 2010)
*''The Lost Casebooks of Sherlock Holmes'' (Pegasus 2012)
**(Omnibus of ''The Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes'', ''Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt'', & ''The Execution of Sherlock Holmes'')
*''Death on a Pale Horse: Sherlock Holmes on Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (Pegasus, March 2013)
=Other
=
*''Summer in the Country'' (The Odyssey Press, 1968)
*''
Prince Charlie
Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...
's Bluff'' (Macmillan 1974)
*''Flight of the Eagle '' (Macmillan 1975, 2006)
**(Viking Press 1976)
*''The Blindfold Game'' (André Deutsch 1981)
*''Captain Wunder'' (Viking Books/Penguin 1981)
*''The Day the Sun Rose Twice'' (1985)
*''Honour among Thieves'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1991)
*''Dead Giveaway ''(1993)
*''The Raising of Lizzie Meek'' (Robert Hale 1993)
Non-fiction & reference
* ''A Long Time Burning: The History of Literary Censorship in England'' (
Praeger 1969)
*''State Trials, Vol. 1: Treason and libel'', with
Thomas Bayly Howell
Thomas Bayly Howell FRS (6 September 1767 – 13 April 1815) was an English lawyer and writer who edited and lent his name to ''Howell's State Trials''.
Life
Thomas Bayly Howell was born in Jamaica. His family returned to England in 1770 to set ...
(Routledge & Kegan Paul 1972)
*''State Trials, Vol 2: The Public Conscience'', with
Thomas Bayly Howell
Thomas Bayly Howell FRS (6 September 1767 – 13 April 1815) was an English lawyer and writer who edited and lent his name to ''Howell's State Trials''.
Life
Thomas Bayly Howell was born in Jamaica. His family returned to England in 1770 to set ...
(Routledge & Kegan Paul 1972)
*''Charge! hurrah! hurrah!: A Life of
Cardigan of Balaclava'' (Viking Press 1975)
**''Cardigan: The Hero of Balaclava'' (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1987)
**(rev. ed. Weidenfeld Military/Cassell Military/Viking Press 2002)
* ''
Cochrane: Britannia's Sea Wolf'' (1975)
**''
Cochrane: Britannia's Last Sea-King'' (Viking Press 1978)
*''The
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusat ...
: A New Biography'' (New York Graphic Society 1976)
** (Little, Brown & Company 1977)
**fr. ''Le Marquis de Sade'' (Seghers 1977)
**de. ''Marquis de Sade: die grosse Biographie'' (
Blanvalet
Blanvalet is a German publishing house, based in Munich, which was founded in 1935 in Berlin and is now part of the Bertelsmann's Random House publishing group. Blanvalet publishes entertainment literature and non-fiction, first in hardcover, ...
1978)
*''
Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...
, the Poet in his World'' (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1979; OUP 1979) ;
**(Allison & Busby 1999)
**(Häftad. Ivan R. Dee Publisher, 1999)
*''
Robert Browning
Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings ...
: A life within life'' (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1982, 1989) ;
**(Viking Books 1983)
*''
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel '' Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...
'' (1988) (St. Martin's Press 1991)
*''Dead Giveaway: Murderers Avenged from the Grave'' (M. O'Mara Bks. 1993)
*''Hanged in Error?'' (Robert Hale 1994)
*''
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...
: A Portrait With Background'' (John Murray 1996)
**(Barnes & Noble Books 1999)
* ''The Victorian Underworld'', with
Henry Mayhew
Henry Mayhew (25 November 1812 – 25 July 1887) was an English journalist, playwright, and advocate of reform. He was one of the co-founders of the satirical magazine ''Punch'' in 1841, and was the magazine's joint editor, with Mark Lemon, in ...
(New York University Press 1998)
* ''An underworld at war :
spiv
In the United Kingdom, the word spiv is slang for a type of petty criminal who deals in illicit, typically black market, goods. The word was particularly used during the Second World War and in the post-war period when many goods were rationed du ...
s,
deserter
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
s,
racketeer
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and ...
s & civilians in the Second World War'' (John Murray, 2003)
**''The Enemy Within:
Huckster
A huckster is anyone who sells something or serves biased interests, using pushy or showy tactics. Historically, the term meant any type of peddler or vendor, but over time it has assumed pejorative connotations.
Etymology
The original meanin ...
s, Racketeers, Deserters, & Civilians During the Second World War'' (
New York University Press
New York University Press (or NYU Press) is a university press that is part of New York University.
History
NYU Press was founded in 1916 by the then chancellor of NYU, Elmer Ellsworth Brown.
Directors
* Arthur Huntington Nason, 1916–1932 ...
2004)
*''Villains' Paradise: A History of Britain's Post-War Underworld: From the spivs to the
Krays
Ronald Kray (24 October 193317 March 1995) and Reginald Kray (24 October 19331 October 2000) were identical twin brothers, gangsters and convicted criminals. They were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London, Engl ...
'' (John Murray 2006)
**(Pegasus 2006)
*''Freedom's Frontier: Censorship in Modern Britain'' (John Murray 2007)
*''Naval Battles of Crete'' (André Deutsch)
=As editor
=
*''Selected Poems'' by
John Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
(J.M. Dent/C.E. Tuttle Everyman's Library 1993)
*''The Everyman Book of Victorian Verse: The Pre-Raphaelites to the Nineties'' (J.M. Dent/C.E. Tuttle 1993)
*''The Everyman Book of Victorian Verse: The
Post-Romantics'' (Routledge 1990, 1994)
**(J.M. Dent/C.E. Tuttle 1994)
=As translator
=
*''The School of Venus'' (orig: ''
L'École des filles, ou la Philosophie des dames'') by Michel Millot et Jean L'Ange (New American Library 1971)
**(Panther 1972)
References
External links
Donald Thomas at ''Crime Thru Time''Donald Thomas at ''Fantastic Fiction''Francis Selwyn at ''Fantastic Fiction''WorldCat: Donald Serrell Thomas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Donald Serrell
1934 births
2022 deaths
Military personnel from Somerset
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
Royal Air Force airmen
People from Somerset
English crime fiction writers
English crime writers
Non-fiction crime writers
Organized crime writers
Organized crime novelists
English mystery writers
Sherlock Holmes
20th-century English historians
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Academics of Cardiff University
People educated at Queen's College, Taunton
21st-century English historians