Victor Bridges

Born Victor George de Freyne in Bristol on March 14, 1878, he wrote under the name Victor Bridges. Sources describe him as a prolific English author of detective and fantasy fiction, as well as a playwright and occasional poet.

Before writing full time, he was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College and also worked in a bank and in repertory theatre. He began publishing crime and mystery fiction regularly in the early 1900s and went on to build a long career that lasted into the 1960s.

His work was often set in Essex and East Anglia, and Greensea Island became his best-known novel, with Sourcebooks noting that it sold more than 300,000 copies. Though less widely remembered today, his books have remained available through projects such as Project Gutenberg and LibriVox, which hints at the lasting appeal of his brisk, entertaining storytelling.