Sir John Appleby is a fictional detective created by Michael Innes in the 1930s who appeared in many novels and short stories.

Character overview

Appleby had perhaps the longest career of any of the great detectives. In ''Silence Observed'' he states that his age is fifty-three, which, if the action of the book takes place in the year of publication, would mean that he was born in 1907 or 1908. This is contradicted in ''The Gay Phoenix'' where he says that he was 29 when he married. He becomes engaged in '' Appleby's End'', published 1945, which would mean that he was born in 1916. Appleby's background remains enigmatic although certain clues emerge in several novels. He was born in

Kirkby Overblow Kirkby Overblow is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Wetherby and Harrogate and lies to the west of Sicklinghall and the east of Leeds Bradford International Airport. It ...

(as mentioned in '' Hare Sitting Up'') and brought up in a back street in a Midlands town (''Appleby's Other Story''). His grandfather had been a baker and he himself had won a scholarship to university ('' There Came Both Mist and Snow''). He first appeared as a youthful Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard in ''

Death at the President's Lodging ''Death at the President's Lodging'' is a 1936 detective novel by the British writer Michael Innes.Reilly p.845 It was the first in a series of novels featuring John Appleby, a Detective Inspector in the Metropolitan Police. It is a traditiona ...

'' (''Seven Suspects'' in the United States) in 1936. He retired from Scotland Yard at a very early age just after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, on marrying Judith Raven, a sculptor first encountered in '' Appleby's End''. He had two younger sisters, Patricia (''Stop Press'') and Jane ('' Operation Pax''), both of whom figure prominently in one novel each and then are never mentioned again. He then reappeared as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, a position rewarded by a knighthood. Although he later retired to Long Dream Manor, his wife's family home in the countryside, he continued to solve crimes well into the 1980s, his last appearance being in ''Appleby and the Ospreys'' in 1986, 50 years after his fictional debut. For a couple of the later tales his son Bobby serves as the chief protagonist. In 2010, eighteen previously uncollected short stories appeared in ''Appleby Talks About Crime''. Appleby is mentioned in the

Edmund Crispin Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery (usually credited as Bruce Montgomery) (2 October 1921 – 15 September 1978), an English crime writer and composer known for his Gervase Fen novels and for his musical scores for ...

novel '' Holy Disorders'' and the Isaac Asimov Union Club short story "The Three Goblets."

Appleby stories

Novels

*''

'' (1936) (also known as ''Seven Suspects'') *''

Hamlet, Revenge! ''Hamlet, Revenge!'' is a 1937 detective novel by Michael Innes (the pen name of J.I.M. Stewart), his second novel. It centres on the investigation into the murder of the Lord Chancellor of England during an amateur production of Shakespeare's ...

'' (1937) *'' Lament for a Maker'' (1938) *''Stop Press'' (1939) (also known as ''The Spider Strikes'') *'' The Secret Vanguard'' (1940) *'' There Came Both Mist and Snow'' (1940) (also known as ''A Comedy of Terrors'') *'' Appleby on Ararat'' (1941) *'' The Daffodil Affair'' (1942) *'' The Weight of the Evidence'' (1943) *'' Appleby's End'' (1945) *'' A Night of Errors'' (1947) *'' Operation Pax'' (1951) (also known as ''The Paper Thunderbolt'') *'' A Private View'' (1952) (also known as ''One-Man Show'' and ''Murder Is an Art'') *'' Appleby Plays Chicken'' (1957) (also known as ''Death on a Quiet Day'') *''

The Long Farewell The Long Farewell (russian: Долгие проводы, Dolgie provody) is a Soviet film drama directed by Kira Muratova. It was filmed in 1971, but it was put on a shelf and was only released on the screens in perestroika in 1987. Plot Fo ...

'' (1958) *'' Hare Sitting Up'' (1959) *'' Silence Observed'' (1961) *'' A Connoisseur's Case'' (1962) (also known as ''The Crabtree Affair'') *'' The Bloody Wood'' (1966) *'' Appleby at Allington'' (1968) (also known as ''Death by Water'') *''A Family Affair'' (1969) (also known as ''Picture of Guilt'') *''Death at the Chase'' (1970) *''An Awkward Lie'' (1971), *''The Open House'' (1972), *''Appleby's Answer'' (1973), *''Appleby's Other Story'' (1974), *''The Gay Phoenix'' (1976), *''The Ampersand Papers'' (1978), *''Sheiks and Adders'' (1982), *''Appleby and Honeybath'' (1983), *''Carson's Conspiracy'' (1984), *''Appleby and the Ospreys'' (1986),

Short story collections

*'' Appleby Talking'' (1954) (also known as ''Dead Man's Shoes'') *''Appleby Talks Again'' (1956) *''Appleby Intervenes'' (1965) *''The Appleby File'' (1975), *''Appleby Talks About Crime'' (2010),

Adaptations

Television

''A Connoisseur's Case'' and ''Lesson in Anatomy'' were adapted for the 1960s BBC anthology series '' Detective'', with Appleby being played by

Dennis Price Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose Price (23 June 1915 – 6 October 1973) was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Louis Mazzini in the film '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949) and for his portrayal of the omnicompetent valet Jeeve ...

and

Ian Ogilvy Ian Raymond Ogilvy (born 30 September 1943) is an English actor, playwright, and novelist. Early life Ogilvy was born in Woking, Surrey, England, to Francis Fairfield Ogilvy, brother of advertising executive David Ogilvy, and actress Aileen ...

, respectively.

Radio

In 1982, ''Appleby's End'' Two of the Appleby stories were adapted for BBC Radio's

Saturday Night Theatre ''Saturday Night Theatre'' was a long-running radio drama strand on BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken ...

: ''Appleby's End'' in 1982, with

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

, and ''Lament for a Maker'' in 1988, with Michael MacKenzie.

References

{{Authority control Appleby, John Appleby, John Series of books Literary characters introduced in 1936