Alexander Patrick McAllister (4 July 1877 — 6 April 1943) was an Irish-English writer, best known for a series of

mystery novel Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a re ...

s written under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Lynn Brock. He also used pen name Alister McAllister and wrote several plays as Anthony Wharton. He was educated at the

National University of Ireland The National University of Ireland (NUI) () is a federal university system of ''constituent universities'' (previously called '' constituent colleges'') and ''recognised colleges'' set up under the Irish Universities Act 1908, and signifi ...

(NUI), where he served as librarian/clerk/chief clerk between 1903 and 1914. After his first success with the play 'Irene Wycherly' in London in 1906 he wrote a series of plays though remained based in Dublin. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

British Intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intell ...

and in the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a Regiment, corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in the World War I, First World War. Th ...

being wounded twice in France. After retiring from the NUI he moved to London and later to

Ferndown Ferndown is a town and civil parish in Dorset in southern England, immediately to the north of Bournemouth and Poole. The parish, which until 1972 was called ''Hampreston'', includes the communities of Ameysford, Hampreston, Longham, Stapehill ...

in Dorset. He continued writing and turned his hand to fiction, producing short stories, serious fiction and the series of Colonel Gore detective novels under the name Lynn Brock, which enjoyed popularity in the 1920s and 1930s during the

Golden Age of Detective Fiction The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of classic murder mystery novels of similar patterns and styles, predominantly in the 1920s and 1930s. While the Golden Age proper is usually taken to refer to works from that period, this type of f ...

. His novels employ a complexity of style and are generally set in rural locations. He died aged 65 in Dorchester, Dorset and was buried in the Dorchester (Weymouth Road) Cemetery. FindaGrave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/269243069/alexander_patrick-mcallister

Main works

Plays

* Irene Wycherley (1906/7) * A Nocturne (1908) * At The Barn (1912) * 13 Simon Street (1913) * A Guardian Angel (1915 - one act play) * The Riddle (1916 - with Morley Roberts) * Needles and pins (1929) * The Mendip mystery (pub. 1929, staged 1931) * The O'Cuddy (staged 1943)

Colonel Wyckham Gore novels

* '' The Deductions of Colonel Gore'' (1924) * '' Colonel Gore’s Second Case'' (1925) * ''

The Kink The Kink is a manmade feature of the North Fork Fortymile River in remote eastern Alaska. It is a channel that was blasted through a rock ridge by gold miners in 1904, in the belief that bypassing a horseshoe-shaped meander in the river's natura ...

'' (1927) * '' The Slip-Carriage Mystery'' (1928) * '' The Mendip Mystery'' (1929) * ''

Q.E.D. Q.E.D. or QED is an initialism of the List of Latin phrases (full), Latin phrase , meaning "that which was to be demonstrated". Literally, it states "what was to be shown". Traditionally, the abbreviation is placed at the end of Mathematical proof ...

'' (1930) * '' The Stoat'' (1940)

Other novels

* ''The Two Of Diamonds'' (1926) * '' The Dagwort Coombe Murder'' (1929) * ''

Nightmare A nightmare, also known as a bad dream, Retrieved 11 July 2016. is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong emotional response from the mind, typically fear but also despair, anxiety, disgust or sadness. The dream may contain situations o ...

'' (1932) * '' The Silver Sickle Case'' (1938) * '' Fourfingers'' (1939) * '' The Riddle of the Roost'' (1939)

References

Bibliography

* Keating, Henry Reymond Fitzwalter. ''Whodunit?: A Guide to Crime, Suspense, and Spy Fiction''. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1982. * Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015.

External links

* 1877 births 1943 deaths British writers Irish crime fiction writers Irish mystery writers Writers from Dublin (city) Writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction {{Ireland-writer-stub