E. C. (Edmund Clerihew) Bentley

Born in London on July 10, 1875, Edmund Clerihew Bentley became known as a novelist, journalist, and humorist. He is most closely associated with Trent’s Last Case (1913), a detective story often praised for reshaping the genre, and with the clerihew, the comic biographical verse form he created as a schoolboy.

Bentley studied at St Paul's School and Merton College, Oxford, and later worked in journalism. That blend of literary skill and reporter's instinct helped give his fiction its lively, modern feel, with clever plotting and a tone that could be both suspenseful and amused.

He also wrote other mystery stories, including tales featuring Philip Trent, as well as humorous verse and essays. Bentley died on March 30, 1956, but his reputation has lasted because his work feels both classic and surprisingly fresh: intelligent, funny, and quietly inventive.