Fredric Brown, one of the most versatile authors of all time, has sold more than 300 stories in a variety of genres including science fiction, fantasy, sleuthing, mystery and adventure. He was a master of the plot twist with a wicked sense of irony that is evident in many of his clever story titles.
Fredric Brown was born in Cincinnati in 1906, grew up there and worked as a clerk for the first 12 years of his working life. He later worked as a proofreader for the Milwaukee Journal. He sold his first story Monday’s Off Night in 1937, but it wasn’t until the following year, when his story The Moon For A Nickel was published in Street & Smith’s Detective Story magazine, that he went on to write a full time.
His first published novel was Mitkey Astromouse in 1941, but his second novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint, was the story that launched his career. This was the first book in his celebrated hard-boiled mystery series with Ed and Am Hunter and won him the 1947 Edgar Award for best first mystery novel. The series features Ed Hunter and his Uncle Am, who come together for the first time to solve the murder of Ed’s father. Their combination of youth and experience make a strong couple with a unique dynamic that has rarely been matched since.
The other six novels in the Ed and Am Hunter series are The Dead Ringer (1948), The Bloody Moonlight (1949), Compliments Of A Fiend (1950), Death Has Many Doors (1951), The Late Lamented (1959), and Mrs. Murphy’s Underpants (1963).
In addition to the Ed and Am Hunter series, Fredric Brown wrote 16 other crime novels, hard-boiled and otherwise. Among the best of these were The Screaming Mimi (1949), Knock Three-One-Two (1959) The Deep End (1952), and my personal favorite Night of the Jabberwock (1950).
Fredric Brown’s books are worth a read for anyone who appreciates the hard mysteries of the golden age.
In 1984, Dennis McMillan began a 20-volume project in which all of Fredric Brown’s best detective stories that had never been reprinted before were published. Since then, these books have become extremely sought after by Fredric Brown fans with values skyrocketing. The titles of some of these volumes are indicative of the ingenuity with which Brown chose some of his short story titles, such as Thirty Corpses Every Thursday, Pardon My Ghoulish Laughter, The Gibbering Night, and Three Corpse Parlay.
There is enough mysterious work by Fredric Brown to keep fans and collectors searching for years to come. But the real joy is in the reading, and Fredric Brown had a knack for completely surprising his readers with some of the most unexpected endings imaginable.