Meny
Portrait image of Helen Reilly

Sample of authors

Reilly, Helen

Critics often regard Helen Reilly as one of the most important female American crime writers of the 1930s. One reason for this distinction is that most of her peers at the time dedicated themselves to romantic suspense, while Reilly instead wrote a series of realistic stories about police work, told from the perspective of the cops themselves. Her main protagonist is inspector McKee of the...

Further reading

Literary figures

John Appleby

Gender: Male

Detective inspector, later commissioner, at Scotland Yard, and so clever that he is eventually knighted by the queen. He is the main character in a row of novels and short stories by Michael Innes, and ages gracefully at the same pace as his creator. When he retires, Sir John Appleby buys a country estate. He is married to sculptress Judith Raven, and they have a son, Bobby, who himself acts the...

Further reading