Benjamin Appel (September 13, 1907 – April 3, 1977), was an American novelist specializing in detective and crime fiction, sometimes from a radical perspective. Appel was born in New York City to Louis Appel and Bessie (née Mikofsky) and grew up in the

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, or Midtown West on real estate listings, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, ...

neighborhood. It was this experience that he drew upon when writing his novels. He was educated at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

, from 1925 to 1927, taking a B.S. from

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

in 1929. Before he began earning a living from his writing, he was a bank clerk, farmer, lumberjack, factory-hand and a housing inspector for New York City. Appel married Sophie Marshak in 1936; they had three daughters. He lived most of his life in

Roosevelt, New Jersey Roosevelt is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in western Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 808, a decrease of 74 (−8.4%) from the 20 ...

, and died there in 1977.

Works

Maxim Lieber Maxim Lieber (October 15, 1897 – April 10, 1993) was a prominent American literary agent in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s. The Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers named him as an accomplice in 1949, and Lieber fled first to Mexico and then ...

was Appel's literary agent in 1933 and 1935. * ''Brain Guy'', a.k.a. ''The Enforcer'' (1934) * ''Four Roads to Death'', a.k.a. ''Gold and Flesh'' (1935) * ''Runaround'' (1937) * ''The Power-House'' (1939) * ''The Dark Stain'' (1943) * ''But Not Yet Slain'' (1947) * ''Fortress in the Rice'' (1951) * ''Hell's Kitchen'', a.k.a. ''Alley Kids'' (1952) * ''Plunder'' (1952) * ''Dock Walloper'' (1953) * ''Sweet Money Girl'' (1954) * ''Life and Death of a Tough Guy'', a.k.a. ''Teen-Age Mobster'' (1955) * * ''The Raw Edge'' (1958, with cover photo by David Attie) * ''The Funhouse'', a.k.a. ''The Death Master'' (1959) * ''Big Man, A Fast Man'' (1961) * ''A Time of Fortune'' (1963) * ''The Devil and W. Kaspar'' (1977) * ''Brain Guy / Plunder'' (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Appel, Benjamin 1907 births 1977 deaths University of Pennsylvania alumni New York University alumni Lafayette College alumni 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers American crime fiction writers American male novelists People from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan People from Roosevelt, New Jersey Writers from Manhattan Novelists from New York City