Stephen Marlowe

Milton Lesser c.1953

Stephen Marlowe (born Milton Lesser, 7 August 1928 in Brooklyn, NY, died 22 February 2008, in Williamsburg, Virginia) was an American author of science fiction, mystery novels, and fictional autobiographies of Christopher Columbus, Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, and Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his detective character Chester Drum, whom he created in the 1955 novel The Second Longest Night. Lesser also wrote under the pseudonyms Adam Chase, Andrew Frazer, C.H. Thames, Jason Ridgway and Ellery Queen.

Lesser attended William and Mary College, earning his degree in philosophy, marrying Leigh Lang shortly after graduating. The couple divorced in 1962. He was drafted into the U. S. Army during the Korean War.^[1]

He was awarded the French Prix Gutenberg du Livre in 1988 for The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus, and in 1997 he was awarded the "Life Achievement Award" by the Private Eye Writers of America. He also served on the board of directors of the Mystery Writers of America. He lived with his second wife Ann in Williamsburg, Virginia.^[2]

Selected bibliography

As Milton S. Lesser:

• Somewhere I'll Find You (1947)
• Earthbound (1952)
• Recruit for Andromeda (1959)
• Secret of the Black Planet (1965)
• Spacemen Go Home (1961)
• Stadium Beyond the Stars (1960)
• The Star Seekers (1953)

As Stephen Marlowe:

• Catch the Brass Ring (1954)
• The Second Longest Night (1955)
• Model for Murder (1955)
• Turn Left for Murder (1955)
• Mecca for Murder (1956)
• Dead on Arrival (1956)
• Killers Are My Meat (1957)
• Murder Is My Dish (1957)
• Trouble Is My Name (1957)
• Terror Is My Trade (1958)
• Violence Is My Business (1958)
• Terror Is My Trade (1958)
• Double in Trouble (with Richard S. Prather) (1959)
• Homicide Is My Game (1959)
• Blonde Bait (1959)
• Passport to Peril (1959)
• Danger Is My Line (1960)
• Death Is My Comrade (1960)
• Peril Is My Pay (1960)
• The Shining (1961)
• Manhunt Is My Mission (1961)
• Jeopardy Is My Job (1962)
• Francesca (1963)
• Drumbeat - Berlin (1964)
• Drumbeat - Dominique (1965)
• Drumbeat - Madrid (1966)
• The Search for Bruno Heidler (1966)
• Drumbeat - Erica (1967)
• Drumbeat - Marianne (1968)
• Come Over, Red Rover (1968)
• The Summit (1970)
• Colossus- (1974)
• The Man with No Shadow (1974)
• The Cawthorn Journals (or Too Many Chiefs) (1975)
• Translation (1976)
• The Valkyrie Encounter (1978)
• Deborah's Legacy (1983)
• The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus (1987)
• Lighthouse at the End of the World (1995)
• The Death and Life of Miguel De Cervantes (1996)

As Adam Chase (writing with Paul W. Fairman):

• The Golden Ape (1959)

As Andrew Frazer:

• Find Eileen Hardin - Alive! (1959)
• The Fall of Marty Moon (1960)

As Jason Ridgway:

• West Side Jungle (1958)
• Adam's Fall (1960)
• People in Glass Houses (1961)
• Hardly a Man Is Now Alive (1962)
• The Treasure of the Cosa Nostra (1966)

As Ellery Queen

• Dead Man's Tale (1961)

References

1. ^ "Introducing the Author: Milton Lesser", Imagination, July 1953, p.2
2. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/stephen-marlowe-crime-and-thriller-writer-790902.html

External links

• The Mystery*File blog: Bill Pronzini on Stephen Marlowe, 1928-2008.
• Milton Lesser at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database