Sunday 23 November 2014

From Sexton Blake to Joshua Dillard ; A Man from New Zealand and a Nineteenth Century Detective



Semper Novus Quid Keith Chapman. This blog is always pleased to hear from the excellent Mr Chapman, a great literary survivor whose career began at the Sexton Blake Library and continued through the Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine, publisher Odhams, assorted magazines, newspapers and comics and ultimately to Black Horse Westerns.

Despite recent health problems, our lad is still going strong and still productive. Recent actvities include Witchery ; A Duo of Weird Tales (as Keith Chapman), and e-book re-issues of Peace at any Price  and The Lawman and the Songbird (as Chap O`Keefe).



As luck would have it, he`s recently been intervieewed online and the results can be found at http://tommcnulty.blogspot.com . Part One (Sexton Blake Library, Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine) was posted on Saturday 8 Nov 2014 and Part Two (Black Horse Westerns) was posted on Friday 14 Nov 2014.



In a recent e-mail, Keith drew my attention to his character Joshua Dillard , a Pinkertons` Detective ( a profession once pursued in real life  by writer Dashiell Hammett ) whose adventures are chronicled in The Lawman and the Songbird and many others ;


"You could say that after all these years I`m still trying to fly the flag for hardboiled mystery, albeit my detective Joshua Dillard , unlike Sexton Blake, operates only in the 19th century !"



The handsome young fellow on the left of this picture is Keith `Chap O`Keefe` Chapman, at
that time editor of the Edgar Wallace Mystery Magazine. He is showing the proposed artwork for an edition of the EWMM to Wallaces` son and daughter.