Eileen Dewhurst (born 27 May 1929) is a British writer of mysteries. Her published work includes more than 20 crime novels, and her short stories have appeared in

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and ge ...

and in periodicals, including ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fic ...

''. Her memberships have included the

Society of Authors The Society of Authors (SoA) is a United Kingdom trade union for professional writers, illustrators and literary translators, founded in 1884 to protect the rights and further the interests of authors. Membership of the society is open to "anyon ...

, the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

, and the

Oxford Union Society The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest unive ...

Education and career

Born in 1929 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England, Dewhurst attended the

Huyton College Huyton College or Liverpool College for Girls, Huyton, as it was also known, was an independent day and boarding school for girls founded in England in 1894 as the sister school to Liverpool College with which it merged on 27 July 1993, a few mont ...

for Girls in Liverpool from 1937 to 1947, then St. Anne's College, Oxford, graduating with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in English in 1951 and an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1956. She held academic administrative posts in London and Liverpool and at the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce from 1953 through 1964. From then through 1980, she worked as a freelance journalist. From 1976 through 1982, she was the official guide to the

Lady Lever Art Gallery The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirra ...

Port Sunlight Port Sunlight is a model village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Port Sunlight was built by Lever Brothers to accommodate workers in ...

. Her novels began to appear in print in 1975.

Critical reception

According to Martin Edwards in ''St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers'', Dewhurst favors plots that involve impersonation and disguise, including

transvestism Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

. Her writing style is "admirably unfussy", he says, and her stories are inventive rather than formulaic. She takes risks with her plots, and her best novels, such as ''A Private Prosecution'', are "excellent". Her work, though "uneven", he says, "deserves to be better known." The unevenness mentioned by Edwards is noted by others. A reviewer for ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' praises Dewhurst for skillfully connecting the plot twists in ''Now You See Her'' but finds the "myriad and rapid name and character changes" of the protagonist, Phyllida Moon, "hard to credit." On the other hand, a review of a later Phyllida Moon novel, ''No Love Lost'', praises the character changes as well as the plot: "Brisk dialogue and the complications of Moon's many alter egos add flair to this old-fashioned whodunit." Less impressed with ''No Love Lost'' is the reviewer for ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'', who finds Phyllida's alter egos unconvincing. This and other plot twists lead to a

denouement A story structure, narrative structure, or dramatic structure (also known as a dramaturgical structure) is the structure of a dramatic work such as a book, play, or film. There are different kinds of narrative structures worldwide, which have bee ...

"that doesn’t bear close scrutiny."

Bibliography

*''Death Came Smiling'' (1975) *''After the Ball'' (1976) *''Curtain Fall'' (1977) *''Drink This'' (1980) *''Trio in Three Flats'' (1981) *''Whoever I Am'' (1982) *''The House That Jack Built'' (1983) *''There Was a Little Girl'' (1984) *''Playing Safe'' (1985) *''A Private Prosecution'' (1986) *''A Nice Little Business'' (1987) *''The Sleeper'' (1988) *''Dear Mr. Right'' (1990) *''The Innocence of Guilt'' (1991) *''Death in Candie Gardens'' (1992) *''Now You See Her'' (1995) *''The Verdict on Winter'' (1996) *''Alias the Enemy'' (1997) *''Roundabout'' (1998) *''Death of a Stranger'' (1999) *''Double Act'' (2000) *''Closing Stages'' (2001) *''No Love Lost'' (2001) *''Easeful Death'' (2002) *''Naked Witness'' (2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewhurst, Eileen 1929 births 20th-century British women writers English crime fiction writers English mystery writers British women mystery writers Writers from Liverpool Living people