William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

s. Between 1942 and 1947, he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

''. In addition to "Anthony Boucher", White also employed the pseudonym "

H. H. Holmes Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or H. H. Holmes, was an American con artist and serial killer, the subject of more than 50 lawsuits in Chicago alone. Until his execution in 1896, he ...

", which was the pseudonym of a late-19th-century American serial killer; Boucher would also write light verse and sign it "Herman W. Mudgett" (the murderer's real name). In a 1981 poll of 17 detective story writers and reviewers, his novel ''Nine Times Nine'' was voted as the ninth best

locked room mystery The "locked-room" or "impossible crime" mystery is a type of crime seen in crime and detective fiction. The crime in question, typically murder ("locked-room murder"), is committed in circumstances under which it appeared impossible for the perpetr ...

of all time.

Background

White was born in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, and went to college at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. He later received a master's degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. After a friend told him that "William White" was too common a name, he used "H. H. Holmes" to write and review mysteries and "Anthony Boucher" for science fiction. He pronounced ''Boucher'' phonetically, "to rhyme with voucher".

Fiction writing and editing

Boucher (as he was more commonly known) wrote mystery, science fiction, and horror. He was also an editor, including science fiction anthologies, and wrote mystery reviews for many years in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. He was one of the first English translators of

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

, translating " The Garden of Forking Paths" for '' Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''. He helped found the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

in 1946 and, in the same year, was one of the first winners of the MWA's

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for his mystery reviews in the ''

''. He was a founding editor (with

J. Francis McComas Jesse Francis McComas (June 9, 1911 – April 19, 1978) was an American science fiction editor. McComas wrote several stories on his own in the 1950s using both his own name and the pseudonym Webb Marlowe. He entered publishing in 1941 as a sale ...

) of ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

'' from 1949 to 1958, and attempted to make literary quality an important aspect of science fiction. He won the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

for Best Professional Magazine in 1957 and 1958. Boucher also edited the long-running ''Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction'' anthology series, from 1952 to 1959. Among Boucher's critical writing was also contributing annual summaries of the state of

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is a term that has been used with a variety of (sometimes contradictory) meanings. The broadest interpretation is as a category of fiction encompassing genres with elements that do not exist in reality, recorded history, na ...

for Judith Merril's '' The Year's Best SF'' series; as editor, he published the volumes in

E. P. Dutton E. P. Dutton was an American Publishing, book publishing company. It was founded as a book retailer in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1852 by Edward Payson Dutton. Since 1986, it has been an imprint of Penguin Group. Creator Edward Payson Dutton ( ...

's ''

The Best Detective Stories of the Year ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' annual volumes published in 1963–1968, succeeding

Brett Halliday Brett Halliday (July 31, 1904 – February 4, 1977) is the primary pen name of Davis Dresser, an American mystery and western writer. Halliday is best known for the long-lived series of Michael Shayne mysteries he wrote, and later commissioned ...

and followed, after his death, by

Allen J. Hubin Allen J. Hubin (born March 5, 1936, in Crosby, Minnesota) is an American historian of crime fiction, a literary critic and bibliographer of crime fiction. Biography Hubin studied at Wheaton College (Massachusetts), Wheaton College and the Univ ...

in that task. Boucher's first short story saw print when he was fifteen years old in the January 1927 issue of '' Weird Tales''. Titled "Ye Goode Olde Ghoste Storie," it was the only story to appear under his real name, William A. P. White. Boucher went on to write short stories for many pulp fiction magazines in America, including '' Adventure'', '' Astounding'', '' Black Mask'', ''

Ed McBain's Mystery Book Ed, ed or ED may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ed'' (film), a 1996 film starring Matt LeBlanc * Ed (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Edward Elric, a character in ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' media * ''Ed'' (TV series), a TV series that ran fro ...

'', ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'', ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

'', ''

The Master Detective ''The Master Detective'' (german: Der Meisterdetektiv) is a 1944 German comedy film directed by Hubert Marischka and starring Rudolf Platte who plays a private detective. The film's art direction was by Gustav A. Knauer and Arthur Schwarz. Cast ...

'', ''

Unknown Worlds ''Unknown'' (also known as ''Unknown Worlds'') was an American pulp fantasy fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1943 by Street & Smith, and edited by John W. Campbell. ''Unknown'' was a companion to Street & Smith's science fiction pulp, '' ...

'' and '' Weird Tales''. His short story "

The Quest for Saint Aquin "The Quest for Saint Aquin" is a science fiction short story by the American writer Anthony Boucher, originally published in 1951 in ''New Tales of Space and Time''. "The Quest for Saint Aquin" was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science ...

" was among the stories selected in 1970 by the

Science Fiction Writers of America The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. While ...

as one of the best science fiction short stories of all time. As such, it was published in '' The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964''. Boucher was the friend and mentor of science-fiction writer

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...

and others. His 1942 novel '' Rocket to the Morgue'', in addition to being a classic

, is also something of a '' roman à clef'' about the

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

science fiction culture Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

of the time, featuring thinly veiled versions of personalities such as Robert A. Heinlein,

L. Ron Hubbard Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (March 13, 1911 – January 24, 1986) was an American author, primarily of science fiction and fantasy stories, who is best known for having founded the Church of Scientology. In 1950, Hubbard authored '' Dianetic ...

and rocket scientist/ occultist/fan

Jack Parsons John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons; October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) was an American Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelema, Thelemite occultist. Associated with the California Institute of Technology ...

Radio

Boucher also scripted for radio and was involved in many other activities, as described by William F. Nolan in his essay "Who Was Anthony Boucher?": With respect to his scripting of the Sherlock Holmes radio dramas, Nigel Bruce, who played Dr. Watson, said that Boucher "had a sound knowledge of Conan Doyle and a great affection for the two characters of Holmes and Watson."

''Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'' years

Boucher left dramatic radio in 1948, "mainly because I was putting in a lot of hours working with

in creating what soon became ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction''. We got it off the ground in 1949 and saw it take hold solidly by 1950. This was a major creative challenge and although I was involved in a lot of other projects, I stayed with ''F&SF'' into 1958." Throughout his years with the magazine, Boucher was involved in many other projects. He wrote fiction for the SF and mystery markets (primarily short stories). He taught an informal writing class from his home in Berkeley. He continued his Sunday mystery columns for the ''New York Times Book Review'', while also writing crime-fiction reviews for ''

The New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'' as Holmes (he also reviewed SF and fantasy (as H. H. Holmes) for the ''Herald Tribune'') and functioning as chief critic for ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''. He edited ''True Crime Detective'', supervised the Mercury Mystery Line and (later) the Dell Great Mystery Library; hosted ''Golden Voices'', his series of historical opera recordings for

Pacifica Radio Pacifica may refer to: Art * ''Pacifica'' (statue), a 1938 statue by Ralph Stackpole for the Golden Gate International Exposition Places * Pacifica, California, a city in the United States ** Pacifica Pier, a fishing pier * Pacifica, a conceiv ...

, and served (in 1951) as president of Mystery Writers of America. As part of his reviews of mystery novels, he published a list of Best Crime Fiction of the Year from 1949 to 1967, listing from 12 to 15 titles each year. He published his list as Anthony Boucher. Boucher was a devoted

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player, a political activist, a rabid sport fan (football, basketball, track, gymnastics and rugby), an active Sherlockian in The Baker Street Irregulars and a spirited chef. He was also an expert collector of recordings of early operatic singers.

Television

In 1964-1965 Boucher worked as a story consultant for the ''

Kraft Suspense Theatre The ''Kraft Suspense Theatre'' is an American television anthology series that was produced and broadcast from 1963 to 1965 on NBC. Sponsored by Kraft Foods, it was seen three weeks out of every four and was pre-empted for Perry Como's ''Kraft Mu ...

''.

Death

Boucher died of lung cancer on April 29, 1968, at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Oakland.

Bouchercon

Bouchercon Bouchercon, the Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention, is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher, and pronounced the way ...

, the "Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention", was named in his honor, as are their annual Anthony Awards. Descriptions of those conventions from the first, in 1970, until that in 2004, appear in Marvin Lachman's ''

The Heirs of Anthony Boucher ''The Heirs of Anthony Boucher'' is a book written by Marvin Lachman and published by Poisoned Pen Press on 1 August 2005, which later went on to win the Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the ...

''.

Selected works

Short stories

*" The Compleat Werewolf" (1942) *"

" (1951)

Mystery novels

* ''

The Case of the Seven of Calvary ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

'' (1937) * '' The Case of the Crumpled Knave'' (1939) * '' The Case of the Baker Street Irregulars'' (1940) * '' The Case of the Solid Key'' (1941) * '' The Case of the Seven Sneezes'' (1942)

Sister Ursula

# '' Nine Times Nine'' (as H. H. Holmes) (1940) # '' Rocket to the Morgue'' (as H. H. Holmes) (1942)

Collections of short fiction and scripts of radio plays

*
Far and Away: Eleven Fantasy and SF Stories
' (1955) * ''The Compleat Werewolf and Other Stories of Fantasy and SF'' (1969) * '' Exeunt Murderers: The Best Mystery Stories of Anthony Boucher'', edited by Francis M. Nevins Jr., and Martin H. Greenberg (1983) * '' The Compleat Boucher: The Complete Short Science Fiction and Fantasy of Anthony Boucher'', edited by James A. Mann (1999) * '' The Casebook of Gregory Hood: Radio Plays by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green'', edited by Joe R. Christopher ( Crippen & Landru, 2009)

Collections of reviews

* ''The Anthony Boucher Chronicles: Reviews and Commentary 1942-1947: Volume I: As Crime Goes By'', edited by Francis M. Nevins (2001) (reviews from San Francisco Chronicle) * ''The Anthony Boucher Chronicles: Reviews and Commentary 1942-1947: Volume II: The Week in Murder'', edited by Francis M. Nevins (2001) * ''The Anthony Boucher Chronicles: Reviews and Commentary 1942-1947: Volume III: A Bookman's Buffet'', edited by Francis M. Nevins (2001) hese three volumes were later published in one volume.* ''Multiplying Villainies: Selected Mystery Criticism 1942-1968'', edited by Francis M. Nevins and Robert Briney (1983) (reviews from the New York Times)

Other

* ''The Lost Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: based on the original radio plays by Dennis Green and Anthony Boucher'', Written by Ken Greenwald (1989) * ''The Forgotten Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Based on the Original Radio Plays by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green'', by H. Paul Jeffers (2005)

References

Sources

''New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors''
* Clute and Nicholls, 1993, ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', St. Martins. * Marvin Lachman, ''The Heirs of Anthony Boucher: A History of Mystery Fandom'', intro. Edward D. Hoch, Poisoned Pen Press, 2005. * Jeffrey Marks, ''Anthony Boucher: A Biobibliography'', McFarland and Company, 2008.

External links

*

David Langford
Photo

Downloadable episodes of the radio program ''The Casebook of Gregory Hood'' in the public domain

Downloadable episodes of the radio program ''Sherlock Holmes'' (starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce) in the public domain

by

Bud Webster Clarence Howard "Bud" Webster (July 27, 1952 – February 13, 2016) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer who is also known for his essays on both the history of science fiction and sf/fantasy anthologies as well. He is perhaps bes ...

at Galactic Central * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boucher, Anthony American mystery writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American science fiction writers American magazine founders American magazine editors American radio writers American speculative fiction critics American speculative fiction editors Edgar Award winners Science fiction editors 1911 births 1968 deaths Science fiction critics University of Southern California alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Deaths from lung cancer in California The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Writers from Oakland, California American male novelists 20th-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers