Frederick Irving Anderson
Frederick Irving Anderson was an influential American writer born on November 24, 1877, in Aurora, Illinois. After graduating from college in 1898, he worked as a journalist for the New York World until 1908 and began writing short stories prior to World War I. He is recognized for his innovative mystery story "The Unknown Man" (1911), which introduced the inverted detective tale format where the criminal is known from the start, focusing instead on the pursuit of justice. Anderson contributed extensively to the Saturday Evening Post, publishing over fifty stories characterized by wit and sophistication between 1913 and 1937. Noteworthy creations include the cunning criminal mastermind the Infallible Ghodal, as well as recurring characters like the Manhattan detective Deputy Parr and the female jewel thief Sophie Lang. His work earned him a lasting legacy in the genre, and he continued to write until his death on December 24, 1947, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His stories have been recognized in prestigious collections, highlighting his significant impact on American mystery fiction.
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Frederick Irving Anderson
Fiction and Nonfiction Writer and Screenwriter
- Born: November 14, 1877
- Birthplace: Aurora, Illinois
- Died: December 24, 1947
- Place of death: Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Biography
Frederick Irving Anderson was born November 24, 1877, in Aurora, Illinois. While details of his early life are sketchy, it is known that he graduated from college in 1898, after which he worked as a journalist for the New York World until 1908.
Anderson began writing short stories before World War I. His initial mystery story, “The Unknown Man” (1911), is notable as one of the first examples of the inverted detective tale, in which the perpetrator of the crime is known at the outset (a surgeon who commits a medical murder) and the reader derives suspense from the pursuit of the criminal. In this case, it is the press, rather than the police, that track the killer. Anderson became a prolific and popular contributor to the Saturday Evening Post, where the great majority of his more than fifty often witty, sophisticated stories were published between 1913 and 1937; one of his stories, “The Golden Fleece,” served as the basis for a 1918 silent film. During the second decade of the twentieth century, he also wrote two nonfiction works: The Farmer of Tomorrow (1913) and Electricity for the Farm: Light, Heat, and Power by Inexpensive Methods from the Water Wheel or Farm Engine.
While Anderson never wrote a novel, stories of several of his recurring characters were later collected in book form. One pair was Manhattan detective Deputy Parr and crime writer Oliver Armiston, whose plots were so ingenious that criminals used them as blueprints for their heists. Another creation was a female jewel thief, featured in The Notorious Sophie Lang—a series of lighthearted 1930’s comedy-adventure movies was based on the character. A third invention was the New England pair of Jason Selfridge and Constable Orlo Sage. Perhaps his best-known creation is the virtual character the Infallible Ghodal, a criminal mastermind and gentleman thief so clever that the police cannot even prove his existence, much less connect him to the perfect crimes he carries out.
Frederick Irving Anderson continued to write and publish elegant, urbane stories right to the end of his life; he died on December 24, 1947, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, at age seventy. Otto Penzler and Tony Hillerman selected the Anderson stories “Blind Man’s Buff” and “The Infallible Ghodal” for editions of The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century.