Edmund Clerihew Bentley

E. C. Bentley (July 10, 1875 – March 30, 1956), was a popular English novelist and humorist of the early twentieth century, and the inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics.

Born in London, Bentley worked as a journalist on several newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph. His detective novel, Trent's Last Case (1913), was much praised, numbering Dorothy L. Sayers among its admirers, and with its labryinthine and mystifying plotting can be seen as the first truly modern mystery. The success of the work inspired him, after only 23 years, to write a sequel, Trent's Own Case(1936). Several of his books have recently been reprinted by House of Stratus [1].

Bentley died aged 80 in 1956.

External Resource

• Illustrated Bibliography of 1st Editions