Hugh Cecil Asterley (10 May 1902 – 1973) was a British writer and

colonial administrator Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...

, who wrote crime and mystery stories and novels, usually with a south-east Asian setting, as H. C. Asterley.

Early life

Asterley was born in Souldrop,

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated ''Beds'') is a Ceremonial County, ceremonial county in the East of England. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Hertfordshire to the south and the south-east, and Buckin ...

Career

Asterley was a civil servant, who spent much of his career in Singapore. His first novel, ''Rowena Goes Too Far'' was published in 1931. A bestseller in the UK, it was banned in Australia due to customs belief that it “lacked sufficient claim to the literary to excuse the obscenity”.Marita Bullock and Nicole Moore: Banned In Australia, A Bibliography His 1961 novel, ''Escape to Berkshire'', was a change in style, being a post-nuclear war survival novel about the destruction of, and escape from, London.

Publications

* ''Rowena Goes Too Far.'' London: Jarrolds, 1931. * ''A Tale of Two Murders.'' London: Jarrolds, 1932 (published as ''Mortmain'' in the USA). * ''Land of Short Shadows.'' London: Jarrolds, 1933. * ''Jungle Leech.''. London: Jarrolds, 1935. * ''Escape to Berkshire.'' London: Pall Mall Press, 1961.

References

External links

H C Asterley's 1951 Colony of Singapore passport
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asterley, H. C. 1902 births 1973 deaths British thriller writers Colonial Service officers People from the Borough of Bedford 20th-century British novelists British people in British Malaya