Anthony Berkeley

Anthony Berkeley (1893–1971) was an English crime writer and critic who helped shape the Golden Age of detective fiction. Born Anthony Berkeley Cox, he published his first novel, The Layton Court Mystery, in 1925, introducing amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham. A founder of the Detection Club in 1930, Berkeley championed fair-play plotting and psychological realism. Under the pseudonym Francis Iles, he wrote Malice Aforethought (1931) and Before the Fact (1932), which inverted the traditional whodunit by revealing the murderer early and focusing on motive and suspense. These works influenced later psychological thrillers. Berkeley also reviewed crime fiction for The Sunday Times and advocated for higher literary standards in the genre. His legacy endures in his innovative narrative structures and his role in elevating the mystery novel from puzzle to art.