author
Octavus Roy Cohen
1891–1959
A prolific American writer of humorous fiction, detective stories, plays, and screen work, Octavus Roy Cohen built a wide readership through stories in The Saturday Evening Post. His memorable creations included detectives Florian Slappey and David Carroll, while his work also reflected—and sometimes reinforced—the racial stereotypes of his era.
2 Audiobooks
Midnight
by Octavus Roy Cohen
Jim Hanvey, detective
by Octavus Roy Cohen
About the author
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1891, Cohen graduated from Clemson College in 1911 with an engineering degree. He worked briefly as a civil engineer and newspaper editor before being admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1913; after practicing law for two years, he turned to writing full time.
Cohen published more than 60 books and short-story collections, along with five plays and numerous film, radio, and television scripts. His stories about African American life in the South made him widely known, especially through The Saturday Evening Post, though their stereotypes and dialect humor attracted criticism even during his lifetime.
His popular characters included the fictional Black detective Florian Slappey and the private investigator David Carroll. Cohen also wrote for Broadway and Hollywood, and later lived in New York and Los Angeles. He died in Los Angeles in 1959 at the age of 67.