Sir John Appleby is a fictional detective created by

Michael Innes John Innes Mackintosh Stewart (30 September 1906 – 12 November 1994) was a Scottish novelist and academic. He is equally well known for the works of literary criticism and contemporary novels published under his real name and for the crim ...

in the 1930s who appeared in many novels and short stories.

Character overview

Appleby had perhaps the longest career of any of the great detectives. In ''Silence Observed'' he states that his age is fifty-three, which, if the action of the book takes place in the year of publication, would mean that he was born in 1907 or 1908. This is contradicted in ''The Gay Phoenix'' where he says that he was 29 when he married. He becomes engaged in '' Appleby's End'', published 1945, which would mean that he was born in 1916. Appleby's background remains enigmatic although certain clues emerge in several novels. He was born in

Kirkby Overblow Kirkby Overblow is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Wetherby and Harrogate and lies to the west of Sicklinghall and the east of Leeds Bradford International Airport. Its parish church is All Sai ...

(as mentioned in '' Hare Sitting Up'') and brought up in a back street in a

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

town (''Appleby's Other Story''). His grandfather had been a baker and he himself had won a scholarship to university ('' There Came Both Mist and Snow''). He first appeared as a youthful Detective Inspector from Scotland Yard in '' Death at the President's Lodging'' (''Seven Suspects'' in the United States) in 1936. He retired from Scotland Yard at a very early age just after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, on marrying Judith Raven, a sculptor first encountered in '' Appleby's End''. He had two younger sisters, Patricia ('' Stop Press'') and Jane ('' Operation Pax''), both of whom figure prominently in one novel each and then are never mentioned again. He then reappeared as

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

of the Metropolitan Police, a position rewarded by a knighthood. Although he later retired to Long Dream Manor, his wife's family home in the countryside, he continued to solve crimes well into the 1980s, his last appearance being in ''Appleby and the Ospreys'' in 1986, 50 years after his fictional debut. For a couple of the later tales his son Bobby serves as the chief protagonist. In 2010, eighteen previously uncollected short stories appeared in ''Appleby Talks About Crime''. Appleby is mentioned in the

Edmund Crispin Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery (usually credited as Bruce Montgomery) (2 October 1921 – 15 September 1978), an English crime writer and composer known for his Gervase Fen novels and for his musical scores for ...

novel '' Holy Disorders'' and the

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

Union Club short story "The Three Goblets."

Appleby stories

Novels

*'' Death at the President's Lodging'' (1936) (also known as ''Seven Suspects'') *'' Hamlet, Revenge!'' (1937) *'' Lament for a Maker'' (1938) *'' Stop Press'' (1939) (also known as ''The Spider Strikes'') *'' The Secret Vanguard'' (1940) *'' There Came Both Mist and Snow'' (1940) (also known as ''A Comedy of Terrors'') *'' Appleby on Ararat'' (1941) *'' The Daffodil Affair'' (1942) *'' The Weight of the Evidence'' (1943) *'' Appleby's End'' (1945) *'' A Night of Errors'' (1947) *'' Operation Pax'' (1951) (also known as ''The Paper Thunderbolt'') *'' A Private View'' (1952) (also known as ''One-Man Show'' and ''Murder Is an Art'') *'' Appleby Plays Chicken'' (1957) (also known as ''Death on a Quiet Day'') *''

The Long Farewell ''The Long Farewell'' () is a Soviet film drama directed by Kira Muratova. It was filmed in 1971, but it was put on a shelf and was only released on the screens in perestroika in 1987. Plot For a long time, Yevgenia Vasilyevna was busy only ...

'' (1958) *'' Hare Sitting Up'' (1959) *''

Silence Observed ''Silence Observed'' is a 1961 detective novel by the British writer Michael Innes. It is the seventeenth entry in his series featuring Sir John Appleby, now an Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, Assistant Commissioner at Scotlan ...

'' (1961) *'' A Connoisseur's Case'' (1962) (also known as ''The Crabtree Affair'') *'' The Bloody Wood'' (1966) *'' Appleby at Allington'' (1968) (also known as ''Death by Water'') *''A Family Affair'' (1969) (also known as ''Picture of Guilt'') *''Death at the Chase'' (1970) *''An Awkward Lie'' (1971), *''The Open House'' (1972), *''Appleby's Answer'' (1973), *''Appleby's Other Story'' (1974), *''The Gay Phoenix'' (1976), *''The Ampersand Papers'' (1978), *''Sheiks and Adders'' (1982), *''Appleby and Honeybath'' (1983), *''Carson's Conspiracy'' (1984), *''Appleby and the Ospreys'' (1986),

Short story collections

*'' Appleby Talking'' (1954) (also known as ''Dead Man's Shoes'') *''Appleby Talks Again'' (1956) *''Appleby Intervenes'' (1965) *''The Appleby File'' (1975), *''Appleby Talks About Crime'' (2010),

Adaptations

Television

''A Connoisseur's Case'' and ''Lesson in Anatomy'' were adapted for the 1960s BBC anthology series ''

Detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

'', with Appleby being played by

Dennis Price Dennistoun John Franklyn Rose Price (23 June 1915 – 6 October 1973) was an English actor. He played Louis Mazzini in the Ealing Studios film ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949) and the omnicompetent valet Jeeves in 1960s television adaptation ...

and

Ian Ogilvy Ian Raymond Ogilvy (born 30 September 1943) is an English actor, playwright and novelist. Early life Ogilvy was born in Woking, Surrey, England, to Francis Fairfield Ogilvy, brother of advertising executive David Ogilvy, and actress Aileen R ...

, respectively.

Radio

Two of the Appleby stories were adapted for BBC Radio's

Saturday Night Theatre __NOTOC__ ''Saturday Night Theatre'' was a long-running radio drama strand on the BBC Home Service and its successor, BBC Radio 4. Launched in April 1943 the strand showcased feature-length, middlebrow single plays on Saturday evenings for mor ...

: ''Appleby's End'' in 1982, with

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

, and ''Lament for a Maker'' in 1988, with Michael MacKenzie.

References

{{Authority control Book series Appleby, John Appleby, John Appleby, John Appleby, John Appleby, John