Rodrigues Ottolengui (March 15, 1861 – July 11, 1937) was an American writer and

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

descent. Born in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, he moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he would spend most of his adult life, in 1877.

Biography

One of three children, Ottolengui was a son of Daniel Ottolengui and Helen Rosalie Rodrigues Ottolengui; he had a sister, Helen, and a brother, Lee. He was cousins with

Octavus Roy Cohen Octavus Roy Cohen (1891–1959) was an early 20th century American writer specializing in ethnic comedies. His dialect comedy stories about African Americans gained popularity after being published in the ''Saturday Evening Post'' and were ada ...

, who also wrote crime fiction. He was the editor of ''Items of Interest: A Monthly Magazine of Dental Art, Science, and Literature'' for thirty-five years, which he continued to edit after retiring from dentistry; he compiled ''Table Talks on Dentistry'', drawing from articles in ''Items of Interest''. A dental pioneer, Ottolengui was one of the first to use

X-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

s and was a specialist in

orthodontics Orthodontics is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, and misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modification of facial growth, known as dentofacial ...

and root canal therapy. He was also interested in

entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

taxidermy Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...

, and

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

. In addition to his work in dentistry, Ottolengui is remembered as an early exponent of detective fiction, with four novels and a short story collection published during the 1890s. The short story volume, ''Final Proof'', was recognized by Ellery Queen as one of ''Queen's Quorum''—the most important collections of detective short stories. Many years later a second series, ''Before the Fact'', originally published in 1901, was discovered and published in book form edited and introduced by detective fiction scholar

Douglas G. Greene Douglas G. Greene (born September 24,1944) is an American historian, editor, and author. He is the son of Margaret Chindahl Greene and the Reverend George L. Greene, He is married to Sandi Greene with whom he has a son, Eric and a daughter, Kather ...

. His wife, May C. Hall Ottolengui, died on 10 July 1936; he died at his New York residence the next year of a heart ailment and a stroke caused by a long illness. His sister died on 22 July 1938.

Bibliography

Novels and short story collections

*''An Artist in Crime'' (

1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...

) *''A Conflict of Evidence'' (

1893 Events January–March * January 2 – Webb C. Ball introduces railroad chronometers, which become the general railroad timepiece standards in North America. * Mark Twain started writing Puddn'head Wilson. * January 6 – Th ...

) *''A Modern Wizard'' (

1894 Events January–March * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...

) *''The Crime of the Century'' (1896) *''Final Proof; or, the Value of Evidence'' ( short story collection; 1898) *''The Ottolengui Portfolio'' (2005; an omnibus of the 4 novels and the short stories) *''Before the Fact'' (2012; first book publication of a 1901 series of stories)

Stories

*" The Azteck Opal" *" The Montezuma Emerald" *" The Nameless Man" *" A Novel Forgery" *" A Singular Abduction"

Non-fiction

*''Methods of Filling Teeth'' *''Table Talks on Dentistry''

References

* Greene, Douglas G. ''Classic Mystery Stories''. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1999.

External links

* * *
''An Artist in Crime''
at manybooks.net
"A Modern Wizard"
an
''An Artist in Crime''
at Project Gutenberg {{DEFAULTSORT:Ottolengui, Rodrigues 1861 births 1937 deaths Writers from Charleston, South Carolina 19th-century American novelists 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American dentists American male short story writers 19th-century American short story writers 19th-century American male writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from South Carolina 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers