Martin Austin Fido (18 October 1939 – 2 April 2019) was a university professor, true crime writer and broadcaster. His many books include ''The Crimes, Detection and Death of Jack the Ripper'', ''The Official Encyclopedia of Scotland Yard'', ''Serial Killers'', and ''The Murder Guide to London''. He is also one of the authors of ''The complete Jack the Ripper A to Z''. After leaving Balliol College,

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 ...

, in 1966, where he had been a junior research fellow in English, he went to the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

where he lectured in English until 1973. In 1971 he went to

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

in the USA where he was a visiting associate professor for one year, and in 1973 he became a reader in English Literature and head of the English department at the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

, Cave Hill Campus,

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

. In the West Indies he was active in theatre and educational broadcasting. In 1983 he returned to England and became a freelance writer and broadcaster, specialising in true crime. He broadcast a weekly radio programme called ''Murder After Midnight'' on London's LBC Radio from 1987 to 2001, some of which were produced and released commercially on cassette and CD by his friend (and fellow LBC broadcaster) Paul Savory. Aside from his many true crime books he has also written illustrated biographies of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

and

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, and books on

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. He translated

Louis Cazamian Louis François Cazamian (2 April 1877 – 22 September 1965) was a French academic and literary critic. He was the author of many books in both French and English dealing with English literature, including ''A History of English Literature'' (192 ...

's ''Le Roman Social en Angleterre'', and his play ''Let's Go Bajan!'' was performed successfully in Barbados and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. A number of ''Murder After Midnight'' stories are available on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

with additional titles planned for early 2013 release. In 2000 he settled in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA, to help his third wife (Karen, née Sandel, died October 2013) nurse her parents through their terminal illnesses, and from 2001 until his death he taught writing and research at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

. Martin Fido died on 2 April 2019 of complications resulting from having suffered a fall.Obituary
from ''Cape Cod Times''. 2019

References

1939 births 2019 deaths People from Penzance Writers from Cornwall Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford University of the West Indies academics British non-fiction crime writers {{Cornwall-stub