If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.
You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

Brown, Fredric

Page history last edited by Jon 12 years, 2 months ago

Fredric Brown (1906-1972) was a science fiction and mystery author best known for writing short stories with an humorous flair. Brown was born in Ohio and educated at the University of Cincinnati and Hanover College, Indiana. He married Elizabeth Chandler. He worked in an office from 1924 to 1936, after which he became a proofreader and journalist. In 1947 he took up full-time writing, and won an Edgar in 1948.

Humor carried over into his novels as well. His science fiction novel What Mad Universe (1949) plays with the clichéd conventions of the genre by throwing a pulp magazine editor into a parallel world based, not on the adventure stories he published, but rather on a naive fan's image of those stories and the man who published them. Similarly, Martians, Go Home (1955) looks at a Martian invasion through the eyes of a science fiction author.

The essence of the work of Fredric Brown in uniqueness. One of the most complex writers of his time, he wrote mysteries with a lucid style that disguised complex plots and themes.-- Newton Baird

A bibliography of Brown's short stories can be found at http://fredricbrown.100webspace.net/

The Ed and Am Hunter Series

Until recently I had always regarded Fredric Brown as a one-hit wonder. I suppose I was reasoning that any other books of his that were even nearly as good as Night of the Jabberwock would surely not have gone out of print or disappeared from sight. Of course, I was wrong. Brown wrote many more books including a series featuring a young detective called Ed Hunter, who works in collaboration with his uncle and mentor Am (Ambrose). The books that I have read in the series so far are, in order: The Fabulous Clipjoint, The Dead Ringer, The Bloody Moonlight, Compliments Of A Fiend, Death Has Many Doors. Two others are listed as sequels (in the excellent 'Sequels' book from the London Association of Assistant Librarians, compiled by ME Hicken (1986)): The Late Lamented and Mrs Murphy's Underpants. While I hold out for these, here is the story so far: see the links for details.

1. The Fabulous Clipjoint

2. The Dead Ringer

3. The Bloody Moonlight

4. Compliments of a Fiend

5. Death Has Many Doors

None of the books are tightly plotted in a detective sense: some of them have sloppy investigation and logical holes you could drive a truck through. But Ed and Am are engaging characters and Brown's local knowledge of Chicago and surrounding areas gives them a feel of authenticity. Ed is a little too attractive to women to be true, but his ongoing growth and maturity give the books a thread, and each one looks forward to the next. Not exactly cosies or hardboiled but somewhere in between. Highly recommended.

Jon