Dick Donovan

Dick Donovan was a pseudonym used by Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock (18421934). Muddock was also a journalist and author of mystery and horror fiction. For a time his detective stories were as popular as those of Arthur Conan Doyle. Between 1889 and 1922, he published nearly 300 detective and mystery stories.

He was born near Southampton, England, but travelled to India and the Far East as a boy. His series characters included not only Dick Donovan, the Glasgow Detective, but also Russian Secret Service agent Michael Danevitch, Vincent Trill of the Detective Service, private detective Tyler Tatlock and early forensic criminologist Fabian Field among others. Muddock's technique of using his character's name as a pseudonym was also used by 'Nick Carter' and later adopted by his American counterparts such as Ellery Queen and Hank Jansen.