Edward Phillips Oppenheim (October 22, 1866 – February 3, 1946), was an English novelist, in his lifetime a major and successful writer of genre fiction including thrillers. Featured on the cover of of Time magazine in 1918, he was the self-styled "prince of storytellers." He composed more than a hundred novels, mostly of the suspense and international intrigue nature, as well as romances, comedies, and parables of everyday life. Perhaps Oppenheim's most enduring creation is the character of General Besserley, the protagonist of General Besserley's Puzzle Box and General Besserley's New Puzzle Box (one of his last works). is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... Genre fiction is a term for fictional works (novels, short stories) written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre in order to appeal to the fans of that genre. ... The thriller is a broad genre of literature, film, and television. ...

Oppenheim's work possesses a unique charm, featuring protagonists who delight in Epicurean meals, surroundings of intense luxury, and the relaxed pursuit of criminal practice, on either side of the law. A gourmet is a person with a discriminating palate and who is knowledgeable in fine food and drink. ...

Life

Born in London, England, his father, Edward John Oppenheim was a leather merchant. His mother was Henrietta Susannah Temperley Budd. "Oppy" as he was called when young attended the Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College in Leicester. When he was sixteen he left school to assist his father in his leather business, which he stayed in for more than twenty years. When his father died, Oppenheim began to extricate himself from the business to concentrate on his writing. His home was The Cedars, Main Street in Evington from 1897 to 1905. His first novel was about England and Canada, called Expiation (1887); followed by such titles as Monk of Cruta (1894), Mysterious Mr Sabin (1898), A Millionaire of Yesterday (1900), The Yellow Crayon (1903), The Malefactor (1906), Jeanne Of The Marshes (1909), The Illustrious Prince (1910), Havoc (1911), and The Tempting of Tavernake (1912). London — containing the City of London — is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England and a major world city. With over seven million inhabitants (Londoners) in Greater London area, it is amongst the most densely populated areas in Western Europe. ... Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, or Q.E is a sixth form college in Leicester, England. ... Evington is a suburb and village in eastern Leicester, England. ...

Oppenheim travelled in England and the continent on business, and he went to the United States in 1892 where he met his future wife Elsie Clara Hopkins of Easthampton, Massachusetts, with whom he would have one daughter, Josephine. They settled in the Leicester area and it was a happy marriage for many years, despite allegations that Oppenheim had affairs. In 1905 the family moved to rural Sheringham in the northern reaches of Norfolk County. A year later, having already published more than thirty books, his move to the country and life as a country squire brought on a prolific period of writing. For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...   The Town of Easthampton is a city[1] in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. ... Sheringham from the mound Sheringham is a seaside town (population 7143[1]) in Norfolk, England, west of Cromer. ...

Cover of A Maker of History from a circa 1906 New York publication

In 1914 when World War I broke out, Oppenheim was appointed to the Ministry of Information in London, for which he would travel with journalists to the front in France. After the war the Oppenheim's moved to London, then Devon and Surrey counties, then on to Norfolk where they bought Reepham House. But they would not stay long as memories of the glamorous Côte d'Azur were calling Oppenheim back to France. His increasing income from book sales helped the family to make the decision. Some of his next titles to be released were The Vanished Messenger (1914), Mr Grex of Monte Carlo (1915), The Kingdom of the Blind (1917), The Zeppelin's Passenger (1918), The Great Impersonation (1920) which sold over a million copies, The Devil's Paw (1920), and The Evil Shepherd (1922). Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... “The Great War ” redirects here. ... The Promenade des Anglais in Nice on the French Riviera at night. ...

The Oppenheim's sold their home and purchased Villa Deveron, at Cagnes-sur-Mer between Cannes and Nice, where Oppenheim could play golf, gamble, and indulge in a favourite pastime, sailing his yacht, Echo I. He continued to produce short stories and novels which he would dictate to his secretary, the majority of which he sold to American magazine publishers in advance of book sales. On 12 September, 1927 Time magazine featured Oppenheim on its cover for a second time. Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town and commune of the Alpes-Maritimes département, in southeastern France. ...

To avoid the death duties in France the Oppenheim's sold their Villa and in 1934 they bought a home called `Le Vauquiédor' in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, dividing their time between there and the Riviera. In 1938 they purchased a home near Grasse on the Riviera. When France collapsed the next year, they were temporarily trapped, but eventually escaped via Spain and Portugal and returned to England in 1941. They were officially "home" when in 1945, despite their frail health, they hired a yacht to travel on to Guernsey and, with some difficulty, repossessed their home on the island. Envoy Extraordinary was published in 1937, and Oppenheim's autobiography The Pool of Memory was published in 1941. Grasse (Provençal Occitan: Grassa in classical norm or Grasso in Mistralian norm) is a town and episcopal see in southeast France, it is a commune of the Alpes-Maritimes département (of which it is a sous-préfecture), on the French Riviera. ... Combatants  France  United Kingdom  Canada  Czechoslovakia  Poland  Belgium  Netherlands  Luxembourg Germany Italy Commanders Maurice Gamelin, Maxime Weygand (French) Lord Gort (British Expeditionary Force) Leopold III (Belgian) H.G. Winkelman (Dutch) Gerd von Rundstedt (Army Group A) Fedor von Bock (Army Group B) Wilhelm von Leeb (Army Group C) H.R...

After years of prostate problems, E. Phillips Oppenheim died on 3 February 1946 in St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands. Oppenheim left behind several screen adaptations and many of his stories were made into movies. The prostate is a compound tubuloalveolar exocrine gland of the male mammalian reproductive system. ...

Further reading

• Autobiography, The Pool of Memory (1941)
• The sole biography of Oppenheim is Prince of Storytellers: The Life of E. Phillips Oppenheim by Robert Standish, pseudonym of Digby George Gerahty. London: Peter Davies 1957.

Bibliography

Novels

• Expiation. 1887
• The Peer and the Woman. 1895
• A Daughter of the Marionis. 1895
• False Evidence. 1896
• A Modern Prometheus. 1896
• The Mystery of Mr. Bernard Brown. 1896
• The Wooing of Fortune. 1896
• The Postmaster of Market Deighton. 1897
• The Amazing Judgment. 1897
• Mysterious Mr. Sabin. 1898
• A Daughter of Astrea. 1898
• As a Man Lives. 1898
• Mr. Marx's Secret. 1899
• The Man and His Kingdom. 1899
• The World's Great Snare. 1900
• A Millionaire of Yesterday. 1900
• The Survivor. 1901
• Enoch Strone (aka A Master of Men). 1901
• A Sleeping Memory (aka The Great Awakening). 1902
• The Traitors. 1902
• A Prince of Sinners. 1903
• The Yellow Crayon. 1903
• The Betrayal. 1904
• Anna the Adventuress. 1904
• A Maker of History. 1905
• The Master Mummer. 1905
• A Lost Leader. 1906
• The Tragedy of Andrea. 1906
• The Malefactor (aka Mr. Wingrave, Millionaire). 1906
• Berenice. 1907
• The Avenger [aka The Conspirators]. 1907
• The Great Secret [aka The Secret]. 1908
• The Governor. 1908
• The Distributors [aka Ghosts of Society]. 1908 (as Anthony Partridge)
• The Missioner. 1908
• The Kingdom of Earth [aka The Black Watcher] 1909 (as Anthony Partridge)
• Jeanne of the Marshes. 1909
• The Illustrious Prince. 1910
• Passers By. 1910 (as Anthony Partridge)
• The Lost Ambassador [aka The Missing Delora]. 1910
• The Golden Web. 1911 (as Anthony Partridge)
• The Moving Finger [aka A Falling Star]. 1911
• Havoc. 1911
• The Court of St. Simon. 1912 (as Anthony Partridge)
• The Lighted Way. 1912
• The Tempting of Tavernake. 1912
• The Mischief Maker. 1913
• The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton. 1913
• The Way of These Women. 1914
• A People's Man. 1914
• The Vanished Messenger. 1914
• The Black Box. 1915
• The Double Traitor. 1915
• Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo. 1915
• The Kingdom of the Blind. 1916
• The Hillman. 1917
• The Cinema Murder [aka The Other Romilly]. 1917
• The Pawns Count. 1918
• The Zeppelin's Passenger [aka Mr. Lessingham Goes Home]. 1918
• The Wicked Marquis. 1919
• The Box with Broken Seals [aka The Strange Case of Mr. Jocelyn Thew]. 1919
• The Curious Quest [aka The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss.] 1919
• The Great Impersonation. 1920
• The Devil's Paw. 1920
• The Profiteers. 1921
• Jacob's Ladder. 1921
• Nobody's Man. 1921
• The Evil Shepherd. 1922
• The Great Prince Shan. 1922
• The Mystery Road. 1923
• The Wrath to Come. 1924
• The Passionate Quest. 1924
• Stolen Idols. 1925
• Gabriel Samara, Peacemaker. 1925
• The Golden Beast. 1926
• Prodigals of Monte Carlo. 1926
• Harvey Garrard's Crime. 1926
• The Interloper [aka The Ex-Duke]. 1927
• Miss Brown of X. Y. O. 1927
• The Light Beyond. 1928
• The Fortunate Wayfarer. 1928
• Matorni's Vineyard. 1928
• The Treasure House of Martin Hews. 1929
• The Glenlitten Murder. 1929
• The Million Pound Deposit. 1930
• The Lion and the Lamb. 1930
• Gangster's Glory [aka Inspector Dickens Retires]. 1931
• Up the Ladder of Gold. 1931
• Simple Peter Cradd. 1931
• The Man from Sing Sing [aka Moran Chambers Smiled]. 1932
• The Ostrekoff Jewels. 1932
• Murder at Monte Carlo. 1933
• Jeremiah and the Princess. 1933
• The Gallows of Chance. 1934
• The Man without Nerves [aka The Bank Manager]. 1934
• The Stranger Boarders of Palace Crescent. 1934
• The Spy Paramount. 1934
• The Battle of Basinghall Street. 1935
• Floating Peril [aka The Bird of Paradise]. 1936
• The Magnificent Hoax [aka Judy of Bunter's Buildings]. 1936
• The Dumb Gods Speak. 1937
• Envoy Extraordinary. 1937
• The Mayor on Horseback. 1937
• The Colossus of Arcadia. 1938
• The Spymaster. 1938
• And Still I Cheat the Gallows. 1939
• Sir Adam Disappeared. 1939
• Exit a Dictator. 1939
• The Strangers' Gate. 1939
• Last Train Out. 1940

Short story collections

Of these 37 collections of short stories, 26 of which have been issued in book form in the United States, most of the volumes are series with sustained interest in which one group of characters appear throughout the various stories.

• The Long Arm of Mannister [aka The Long Arm]. 1908
• Peter Ruff and the Double-Four [aka The Double Four]. 1912
• For the Queen. 1912
• Those Other Days. 1912
• Mr. Laxworthy's Adventures. 1913
• The Amazing Partnership. 1914
• An Amiable Charlatan [aak The Game of Liberty]. 1915
• Mysteries of the Riviera. 1916
• Aaron Rodd, Diviner. 1920
• Ambrose Lavendale, Diplomat. 1920
• Hon. Algernon Knox, Detective. 1920
• The Seven Conundrums. 1923
• Michael's Evil Deeds. 1923
• The Inevitable Millionaires. 1923
• The Terrible Hobby of Sir Joseph Londe. 1924
• The Adventures of Mr. Joseph P. Gray. 1925
• The Little Gentleman from Okehampstead. 1926
• The Channay Syndicate. 1927
• Mr. Billingham, the Marquis and Madelon. 1927
• Madame and Her Twelve Virgins. 1927
• Nicholas Goade, Detective. 1927
• The Exploits of Pudgy Pete. 1928
• Chronicles of Melhampton. 1928
• The Human Chase. 1929
• Jennerton & Co. 1929
• What Happened to Forester. 1929
• Slane's Long Shots. 1930
• Sinners Beware. 1931
• Crooks in the Sunshine. 1932
• The Ex-Detective. 1933
• General Besserley's Puzzle Box. 1935
• Advice Limited. 1936
• Ask Miss Mott. 1936
• Curious Happenings to the Rooke Legatees. 1937
• A Pulpit in the Grill Room. 1938
• General Besserley's Second Puzzle Box. 1939
• The Grassleyes Mystery. 1940

Film adaptations

External links

• Works by Edward Phillips Oppenheim at Project Gutenberg
• 1927 Time cover featuring Oppenheim
• E. Phillips Oppenheim, Prince of Story Tellers Contains extensive lists of writings by Oppenheim.
• The Free Library
• full text downloads in HTML, PDF, text formats at ebooktakeaway.com
• IMDB entry on E. Philips Oppenheim