Burford Delannoy

Born Adolphus Eugene Judge in London in 1856, he was the son of bookseller Adolphus Judge and Fanny Delannoy. According to the Victorian Fiction Research Guides entry for the author, he was first articled as a solicitor's clerk but then moved into the theatre, appearing on the London stage under the name Burford Delannoy, a surname drawn from his mother's family.

Under that pen name, he published a substantial body of fiction from the 1890s into the early 20th century. Reference listings describe him as the author of seventeen novels, many of them crime stories, including The Margate Murder Mystery, while library and public-domain records also preserve works such as £19,000 and Prince Charlie.

His career suggests a writer closely connected to the tastes of popular readers of his day: brisk plots, suspense, and a strong feel for theatrical storytelling. He died in 1931, and some later book records identify The Flat Beneath, published that same year, as one of his final works.