Peter Cheyney
Encyclopedia
Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney, known as Peter Cheyney, (22 February 1896 — 26 June 1951) was a British crime fiction
writer
who flourished between 1936
and 1951
. Cheyney is the author of hard-boiled short stories and novels in the American style, some of which were adapted to film; his character Lemmy Caution
was famously appropriated by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard
for the science fiction
movie Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution.
His other memorable creation is Slim Callaghan, a somewhat disreputable private detective most at home in the less savoury sections of London. Although his novels sold in the millions during his lifetime, he is almost forgotten today, and his works are mostly out of print.
A meticulous researcher, Cheyney kept a massive set of files on criminal activity in London until they were destroyed during the Blitz in 1941; he soon began to replace his collection of clippings. Cheyney dictated his work. Typically Cheyney would "act out" his stories for his secretary, Miss Sprauge, who would copy them down in shorthand and type them up later.
The Slim Callaghan novels and short stories move along at a brisk and confident clip and his "Dark" series was widely praised during World War II
for bringing more realism to espionage fiction. In their casual brutality and general "grubbiness," the "Dark" novels seem to have foreshadowed much of the Cold War fiction of the mid to late 1960s. Anthony Boucher
placed these later works in the context of Graham Greene
and Joseph Conrad
.
The characterization of Ernest Guelvada in the "Dark" series is one of the high points of Cheyney's career. A cheerfully sadistic war operative whose objective is to deplete the ranks of opposing forces in a leisurely but thorough fashion, the loquacious Guelvada still finds the time to dress immaculately, drink immoderate amounts of alcohol and remain a counter agent.
From all accounts, Cheyney lived much like his characters, working too hard, living the fast and careless life with a breathtaking abandon that eventually caught up with him. In addition to his literary skills, “he was a fencer of repute, a golfer, a crack pistol-shot, and a jiu-jitsu expert.”
A good deal of tension and haste is found in his writing, often to good effect; one sometimes gets the feeling that Cheyney is dictating to fill up the page but even as he does so the attention he pays to mundane details in the process makes his characters and their world all the more real.
Cheyney published a semi-autobiographical volume, Making Crime Pay and after his death at least two biographical essays appeared in posthumous collections. An essay by Viola Garvin, "Peter Cheyney" appears in Velvet Johnnie a posthumous collection of Cheyney's short stories (London: Collins, 1952, pages 7–32). The other essay is anonymous.It appears in the Cheyney collection Calling Mr. Callaghan (London: Todd, 1953, pages 7–16). Cheyney published one volume of short stories, advice to critics and a few poems in No Ordinary Cheyney (London: Faber and Faber, 1948).
His Biography was Peter Cheyney: Prince of Hokum by Michael Harrison, (London: N. Spearman, 1954.)
Cheyney was buried in Putney Vale
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
who flourished between 1936
1936 in literature
The year 1936 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Life magazine is first published.* The Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's literature is established in the UK.-New books:...
and 1951
1951 in literature
The year 1951 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*E. E. Cummings and Rachel Carson are awarded Guggenheim Fellowships.*Flannery O'Connor is diagnosed with lupus....
. Cheyney is the author of hard-boiled short stories and novels in the American style, some of which were adapted to film; his character Lemmy Caution
Lemmy Caution
Lemmy Caution is a fictitious Federal Bureau of Investigation agent created by Peter Cheyney, who published the first book about him in 1936...
was famously appropriated by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
for the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
movie Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution.
His other memorable creation is Slim Callaghan, a somewhat disreputable private detective most at home in the less savoury sections of London. Although his novels sold in the millions during his lifetime, he is almost forgotten today, and his works are mostly out of print.
Life and career
Born in 1896, Peter Cheyney lived only 55 years until June 1951. For much of his early life, Cheyney occupied himself as a police reporter and crime investigator. Until he became successful as a crime novelist, he was often quite poor. It is said that he got his start through a bet; when Cheyney remarked that anyone one could write a book in the idiom of the American thriller, he was bet five pounds that he could not. Cheyney sold his first story as the result of this bet. Cheyney wrote his first novel, the Lemmy Caution thriller This Man Is Dangerous in 1936 and followed it with the first Slim Callaghan novel, The Urgent Hangman in 1938. The immediate success of these two novels assured a flourishing new career, and Cheyney abandoned his work as a freelance investigator. Sales were brisk; in 1946 alone, 1,524,785 copies of Cheyney books were sold worldwide.A meticulous researcher, Cheyney kept a massive set of files on criminal activity in London until they were destroyed during the Blitz in 1941; he soon began to replace his collection of clippings. Cheyney dictated his work. Typically Cheyney would "act out" his stories for his secretary, Miss Sprauge, who would copy them down in shorthand and type them up later.
The Slim Callaghan novels and short stories move along at a brisk and confident clip and his "Dark" series was widely praised during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for bringing more realism to espionage fiction. In their casual brutality and general "grubbiness," the "Dark" novels seem to have foreshadowed much of the Cold War fiction of the mid to late 1960s. Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
placed these later works in the context of Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
and Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
.
The characterization of Ernest Guelvada in the "Dark" series is one of the high points of Cheyney's career. A cheerfully sadistic war operative whose objective is to deplete the ranks of opposing forces in a leisurely but thorough fashion, the loquacious Guelvada still finds the time to dress immaculately, drink immoderate amounts of alcohol and remain a counter agent.
From all accounts, Cheyney lived much like his characters, working too hard, living the fast and careless life with a breathtaking abandon that eventually caught up with him. In addition to his literary skills, “he was a fencer of repute, a golfer, a crack pistol-shot, and a jiu-jitsu expert.”
A good deal of tension and haste is found in his writing, often to good effect; one sometimes gets the feeling that Cheyney is dictating to fill up the page but even as he does so the attention he pays to mundane details in the process makes his characters and their world all the more real.
Cheyney published a semi-autobiographical volume, Making Crime Pay and after his death at least two biographical essays appeared in posthumous collections. An essay by Viola Garvin, "Peter Cheyney" appears in Velvet Johnnie a posthumous collection of Cheyney's short stories (London: Collins, 1952, pages 7–32). The other essay is anonymous.It appears in the Cheyney collection Calling Mr. Callaghan (London: Todd, 1953, pages 7–16). Cheyney published one volume of short stories, advice to critics and a few poems in No Ordinary Cheyney (London: Faber and Faber, 1948).
His Biography was Peter Cheyney: Prince of Hokum by Michael Harrison, (London: N. Spearman, 1954.)
Cheyney was buried in Putney Vale
Putney Vale
Putney Vale is a small community at the foot of Roehampton Vale, just off the A3. It is part of the Roehampton Ward of the London Borough of Wandsworth.The area is bordered by:* Roehampton* Putney* Putney Heath* Kingston* Richmond Park* Wimbledon Common...
Lemmy Caution
- This Man Is Dangerous (1936) — filmed as Cet homme est dangereux (France; Jean Sacha, 1953)
- Poison Ivy (1937) — filmed as La môme vert-de-gris (France; Bernard BorderieBernard BorderieBernard Borderie , son of Raymond Borderie, one of the producers of Les Enfants du Paradis , was a French film director and screenwriter.-Selected filmography:...
, 1953) - Dames Don't Care (1937) — filmed as Les femmes s'en balancent (France; Bernard BorderieBernard BorderieBernard Borderie , son of Raymond Borderie, one of the producers of Les Enfants du Paradis , was a French film director and screenwriter.-Selected filmography:...
, 1954) - Can Ladies Kill?Can Ladies Kill?Can Ladies Kill? is a crime novel by British author Peter Cheyney first published in 1938 by William Collins, Sons & Co. Ltd. Set in San Francisco and featuring Cheyney's creation, G-Man Lemmy Caution, it belongs to the hardboiled school of crime writing....
(1938) - Don't Get Me Wrong (1939) — filmed as Vous pigez (France; Victor Trivas and Jacques Doniol-ValcrozeJacques Doniol-ValcrozeJacques Doniol-Valcroze was a French actor, critic, screenwriter, and director...
, 1955) - You'd Be Surprised (1940)
- Your Deal, My Lovely (1941) — filmed as À toi de faire, mignonne (France; Bernard BorderieBernard BorderieBernard Borderie , son of Raymond Borderie, one of the producers of Les Enfants du Paradis , was a French film director and screenwriter.-Selected filmography:...
(1963) - Never a Dull Moment (1942)
- You Can Always Duck (1943)
- I'll Say She Does! (1945) — filmed as Comment qu'elle est! (France; Bernard BorderieBernard BorderieBernard Borderie , son of Raymond Borderie, one of the producers of Les Enfants du Paradis , was a French film director and screenwriter.-Selected filmography:...
, 1960)
Slim Callaghan
- The Urgent Hangman (1938)
- Dangerous Curves (1939), US title: Callaghan
- You Can't Keep the Change (1940)
- It Couldn't Matter Less (1941), US title: Set-up for Murder
- Sorry You've Been Troubled (1942), US title: Farewell to the Admiral
- The Unscrupulous Mr. Callaghan (1943)
- They Never Say When (1944)
- Uneasy TermsUneasy TermsUneasy Terms is a 1948 British thriller film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Michael Rennie, Moira Lister and Faith Brook. It is based on a novel by Peter Cheyney.-Cast:* Michael Rennie - Slim Callaghan* Moira Lister - Corinne Alardyse...
(1946)
The Dark Series
- Dark Duet (1942), also as The Counterspy Murders
- The Stars Are Dark (1943), also as The London Spy Murders
- The Dark Street (1944), also as The Dark Street Murders
- Sinister Errand (1945), also as Sinister Murders
- Dark HeroDark HeroDark Hero is a 1946 thriller by Peter Cheyney featuring a Chicago gangster involved in the gang wars of the 1930s, who during the Second World War finds himself in Nazi-occupied Norway and becomes a hero of the anti-Nazi resistance - by applying essentially the same skills which had made him a...
(1946), also as The Case of the Dark Hero - Dark Interlude (1947), also as The Terrible Night
- Dark Wanton (1948), also as Case of the Dark Wanton
- Dark Bahama (1950), also as I'll Bring Her Back
Other novels
- Another Little Drink (1940), also as Premeditated Murder and A Trap for Bellamy
- Night Club (1945), also as Dressed to Kill
- Dance without Music (1947)
- Try Anything Twice (1948), also as Undressed to Kill
- One of Those Things (1949), also as Mistress Murder
- You Can Call It a Day (1949), also as The Man Nobody Saw
- Lady, Behave! (1950), also as Lady Beware
- Ladies Won't Wait (1951), also as Cocktails and the Killer
Short Story Collections
- You Can’t Hit a Woman (1937)
- Knave Takes Queen (1939; enlarged edition, 1950)
- Mr. Caution – Mr. Callaghan (1941)
- Making Crime Pay (1944), collected stories, articles, radio plays
- The Curiosity of Etienne MacGregor (1947), also as The Sweetheart of the Razors
- No Ordinary Cheyney (1948)
- Velvet Johnnie (1952)
- G-man at the Yard (1953)
- Calling Mr. Callaghan (1953)
- The Adventures of Julia (1954), US title: The Killing Game
- He Walked in Her Sleep (1954), also as MacTavish
- The Mystery Blues (1954), also as Fast Work
External links
- Dedicated website
- Biography and bibliography of Peter Cheyney from thrillingdetective.com
- Peter Cheyney Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at AustinUniversity of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...