author

Frederick Irving Anderson

1877–1947

Best remembered for clever mystery stories with an ironic edge, this American writer moved from newspaper work into popular magazine fiction and helped shape early detective storytelling.

1 Audiobook

Electricity for the farm Light, heat and power by inexpensive methods from the water wheel or farm engine

Electricity for the farm Light, heat and power by inexpensive methods from the water wheel or farm engine

by Frederick Irving Anderson

About the author

Frederick Irving Anderson was an American journalist and short-story writer, born in Aurora, Illinois, in 1877 and dead in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1947. Sources consistently describe him as a reporter as well as a prolific writer of mystery and detective fiction, especially for popular magazines.

He is often noted for the ingenuity of his plots and for helping popularize the "inverted" detective story, in which the reader may know more about the crime from the start than the investigator does. His work also reached the screen: he is credited as a writer on films including The Notorious Sophie Lang and Sophie Lang Goes West.

A great deal of Anderson's reputation rests on stories that originally appeared in periodicals rather than in widely circulated books, which may be one reason he is less famous today than some of his contemporaries. Even so, he remains a rewarding discovery for listeners who enjoy smart, neatly constructed classic crime.