John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

One of the least-known and most underrated authors of the Golden Age, he wrote several fine detective novels that never found the huge they deserved, despite praise from John Dickson Carr, Howard Haycraft or Ellery Queen. His sleuth, painter John Kennedy (sic) was one of the most human detectives of the era. I particularly recommend The Messenger of Death (1937) a stunning locked-room mystery where an artist is found burnt to death in his studio.

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

I take it he is so little known (and under-rated) and that only you have heard of him. References, please!
RKAzero

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

An Edinburgh lawyer, John Pritchard Jackson wrote only thirteen novels from 1929 to 1941, all of which were published by the William Wallace Press, a local publisher that collapsed because of war restrictions. I found one of his books by chance at a London used bookstore, and liked it so much that I started seeking for the others while trying to find information on the author. Alas, it seems I am the only man in the world to care for that writer, as all people I told about him shrugged or looked at me with amazed eyes.
Whatever may be, here is his complete bibliography:

- The Cross Street Mystery (1929)
- Red As Death (1930)
- We Who Shall Die (1931)
- Back From Oblivion (1932)
- The Season of the Witch (1933)
- The House of Evil (1934)
- The French Affair (1935)
- Missing From His Home (1936)
- The Messenger of Death (1937)
- The Dilettante Hangman (1938)
- The Nameless Thing (1939)
- The Man From The Rhine (1940)
- Second Thoughts (1941)

As to praise he gained from Christie, Haycraft or Carr, it isn't quite true but who'd have paid Pritchard some attention if I hadn't spiced his story a little bit?

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

Your story is incomplete. Which of his books do you have?
RKAzero

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

I have all of them, and finding them was not bed of roses, as books from The William Wallace Press were not distributed in bookstores.

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

Your story grows more astonishing and wonderful by the minute. How, exactly, did the William Wallace Press manage to sell its books, then?
RKAzero

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

I can't find any of these books thorugh my usual sources. I don't believe they exist. Ritzner, what point are you trying to make?

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

The William Wallace Press was kind of a book-club aimed to a Scottish independantist/traditionalist audience. Books were available in sympathizing stores and libraries, but most of the sales were made through mail. This some underground statute is the main reason for Pritchard's and its publisher's obscurity.

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

None, but it seems no one wants to believe me, so I'd better leaving and never coming back. I already unsuscribed from GAdetection, I now unsubscribe from this forum. Goodbye, all.

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

By the way, it was my birthday today, thanks for not wishing.

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

He should have stuck with snarls and insults. They worked better.
RKAzero

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

FYI: I don't know whether there are any of you interested in this thread who do not belong to the Yahoo group: Golden Age of Detection. If there are, then you should know that there is copious well-informed discussion of John Pritchard Jackson in that forum, and the experts are fairly unanimous in saying that there is likely no such historical author, nor a William Wallace Press. There is also some amateur psycho-analysis of Richtner Von Jung, who, alas, appears no longer to be with us, at least for now.
RKAzero

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

Yes, I have been following that discussion as well.

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

Promises, promises! I notice RVJ is still a Registered member of GAM. Keeping his options open, I guess.

Re: John Pritchard Jackson (1899-1997)
 

[/I] Now, Zero, try to be kind. It's very possible that Von Jung in collaboration with Mel Gibson run the "William Wallace Press," brave hearts they both must be.
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