author

Marion Harvey

An elusive early-20th-century mystery writer, he built twisty detective stories around locked rooms, amateur sleuths, and plenty of suspense. His best-known work, The Mystery of the Hidden Room, helped introduce readers to the investigator Graydon McKelvie.

1 Audiobook

The Mystery of the Hidden Room

The Mystery of the Hidden Room

by Marion Harvey

About the author

Marion Harvey appears to have been a Brazilian-born American lawyer who later turned to writing detective fiction and plays. Reliable biographical details are scarce, but sources consistently describe him as having practiced law in Ohio before moving to Los Angeles.

His fiction was published mainly in the 1920s and into the 1930s, with The Mystery of the Hidden Room appearing in 1922. Other works linked to him include The Vengeance of the Ivory Skull, The Clue of the Clock, The House of Seclusion, and The Arden Mystery.

What makes Harvey interesting today is partly the mystery around the author himself. Even with so little firmly documented, his books have stayed alive through reprints and public-domain editions, and his crime stories still appeal to readers who enjoy classic puzzle mysteries in the Sherlock Holmes tradition.