Edgar Lustgarten

Infobox Writer
name = Edgar Lustgarten
pseudonym = Brent Wood
birthdate = Birth date|1907|5|3
birthplace = Manchester, England, Manchester, England
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = novelist and journalist
nationality = English
period =
genre = Detective fiction, crime fiction, mystery fiction
subject =
movement = None
influences = Arthur Conan Doyle
influenced = Truman Capote


website =

Edgar Marcus Lustgarten (born 3 May 1907, Manchester, England) and deceased on 15 December 1978) was a British broadcaster and noted crime writer.

His books included crime fiction, but most were accounts of true-life criminal cases. The legal justice system and courtroom procedures were his main interests and his writings reflect this. He also wrote numerous articles for newspapers and presented the radio series "Advocate Extraordinary". He used to say that he had no schedules, writing everywhere everytime, on bars, on cars and while walking by the streets.

He is most widely remembered for hosting the filmed crime series "Scotland Yard" and "The Scales of Justice" in the 1950s and 1960s, filmed at Merton Park Studios, London, S.W.19.

A sample of Lustgarten reading from "Death on the Crumbles" is featured on the Australian band "Severed Heads" 1994 hit "Dead Eyes Opened". His works are still used as introductory readings in several Law School in different countries because of their accuracy on the trials´ atmosphere and attorneys behaivor.