author

John Oakley

1868–1945

Best known today for co-writing the mystery novel The Clevedon Case with his wife Nancy, this English novelist also published earlier fiction in the 1890s. His work sits at an interesting crossroads between late-Victorian popular fiction and early detective storytelling.

1 Audiobook

The Clevedon Case

The Clevedon Case

by Nancy (Novelist) Oakley, John Oakley

About the author

John Oakley was an English author born on 7 August 1868 and died on 15 January 1945. Confirmed sources for his life are slim, but library and bibliography records agree on those dates and identify him as a novelist.

His known books include That Wilmslow Girl (1895) and A Gentleman in Khaki: A Story of the South African War (1900). Those titles suggest a writer comfortable moving between popular fiction and contemporary themes of his day.

Oakley is now most often remembered for The Clevedon Case (1923), a detective novel he co-wrote with his wife, Nancy Oakley. That collaboration has helped keep his name in circulation with modern public-domain readers and audiobook listeners.