author
Edmund Snell
1889–1972
Best known for fast-moving British thrillers and mysteries, this prolific interwar writer also ventured into science fiction and other popular genres. His books often lean into exotic settings and pulp-era suspense, making them a vivid snapshot of early 20th-century popular fiction.
1 Audiobook
The crimson butterfly
by Edmund Snell
About the author
Born in London on September 5, 1889, Edmund Snell was a British writer who published widely between the two world wars. Reference sources describe him as especially prolific in thrillers and mysteries, with some science-fiction titles as well.
Snell wrote the kind of page-turning popular fiction that was common in the early 1900s: crime stories, adventure, and sensation novels designed to keep readers moving from chapter to chapter. Modern readers may notice that some of his work reflects the attitudes and stereotypes of its period, especially in stories built around foreign settings or villains.
He died in Worthing, Sussex, in September 1972. Although he is not a household name today, his novels and stories continue to interest readers of vintage crime, pulp fiction, and early genre writing.