Sir John Appleby is a fictional detective created by Michael Innes in the 1930s who appeared in many novels and short stories.

Appleby had perhaps the longest career of any of the great detectives. He was born in 1907 or 1908 (in Silence Observed he states that his age is fifty-three). 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

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...

, on marrying Judith Raven, a sculptress first encountered in Appleby's End.

He then reappeared as Commissioner

Police commissioner

Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...

 of the Metropolitan Police

Metropolitan police

Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...

, 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.

In 2010, eighteen previously uncollected short stories appeared in Appleby Talks About Crime.

Appleby also makes an appearance in the Edmund Crispin

Edmund Crispin

Edmund Crispin was the pseudonym of Robert Bruce Montgomery , an English crime writer and composer.-Life and work:Montgomery was born in Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire...

novel Holy Disorders.

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 (1958)
• Hare Sitting Up (1959)
• Silence Observed (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), ISBN 0-396-06345-4
• The Open House (1972), ISBN 0-396-06524-4
• Appleby's Answer (1973), ISBN 0-396-06744-1
• Appleby's Other Story (1974), ISBN 0-396-06715-8
• The Gay Phoenix (1976), ISBN 0-396-07442-1
• The Ampersand Papers (1978), ISBN 0-396-07663-7
• Sheiks and Adders (1982), ISBN 0-396-08063-4
• Appleby and Honeybath (1983), ISBN 0-396-08247-5
• Carson's Conspiracy (1984), ISBN 0-396-08395-1
• Appleby and the Ospreys (1986), ISBN 0-396-08950-X

Short Story Collections

• Appleby Talking (1954) (also known as Dead Man's Shoes)
• Appleby Talks Again (1956)
• Appleby Intervenes (1965)
• The Appleby File (1975), ISBN 0-396-07279-8
• Appleby Talks About Crime (2010), ISBN 978-1932009910