Francis Worcester Doughty

Born in 1850 and active during the great age of cheap popular fiction, Francis Worcester Doughty became known as an American author of dime novels. He wrote for a mass readership that wanted excitement, quick plots, and memorable heroes, and his work fit that world perfectly.

Doughty is especially associated with adventure and detective fiction. He wrote western stories and is also linked to the long-running Brady detective series, part of the energetic story-paper culture that flourished in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century.

He died in 1917. Today, his work offers a window into an era when fiction was sold for everyday readers in inexpensive pamphlets and weekly papers, and when authors like Doughty helped define the pace and style of early popular entertainment.