James Anderson (b. Swindon, Wiltshire 1936 – d. Penarth, Glamorganshire 2007) was a British author. He is best known for his books featuring Inspector Wilkins. Set in the 1930s, the action of the books takes place in a large fictional British estate, or

stately home An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

, belonging to George Henry Aylvin Saunders, the 12th Earl of Burford. The books are a humorous look at the

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...

type of

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, which feature

whodunnits A ''whodunit'' or ''whodunnit'' (a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction in which the puzzle regarding who committed the crime is the main focus. The reader or viewer is provided with the ...

set during a house party, and contain joking references to Inspector Appleby, the detective created by

Michael Innes John Innes Mackintosh Stewart (30 September 1906 – 12 November 1994) was a Scottish novelist and academic. He is equally well known for the works of literary criticism and contemporary novels published under his real name and for the cri ...

, or Inspector Alleyn, created by

Ngaio Marsh Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh (; 23 April 1895 – 18 February 1982) was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of Det ...

, and to the well-known private detective

Hercule Poirot Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by British writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, two plays ('' Black Coffee'' and ''Alibi''), and more ...

, invented by

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

. Anderson also wrote

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

s based on the

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

series ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

''. He died in 2007 in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan.

Bibliography

Inspector Wilkins books * ''The Affair of the Blood-stained Egg Cosy'' cKay-Washburn 1975* ''The Affair of the Mutilated Mink'' * ''The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks'' Novelizations based on ''Murder, She Wrote'' * ''The Murder of Sherlock Holmes'' von 1985ref name=Miranda /> * ''Hooray for Hollywood'' * ''Lovers and Other Killers'' Mikael Petros books * ''Assassin'' imon & Schuster 1971* ''The Abolition of Death'' {Constable 1974] Other works * ''The Alpha List'' * ''Appearance of Evil'' onstable 1977* ''Angel of Death'' onstable 1978* ''Assault and Matrimony'' * ''Auriol'' * ''Additional Evidence''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, James 1936 births 2007 deaths English mystery writers English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English male writers