author
Virgil Markham
1899–1973
A stylish and now largely overlooked crime writer, he brought wit, atmosphere, and a distinctly transatlantic perspective to detective fiction between the wars. Best known for classic mysteries like Death in the Dusk, he also spent much of his life connected to the literary world through his father, poet Edwin Markham.
1 Audiobook
Death in the dusk
by Virgil Markham
About the author
Born in Oakland, California, in 1899, he was the son of poet Edwin Markham and later became an American author of detective novels. Sources available here agree that his crime-writing career was fairly brief, running mainly from the late 1920s into the mid-1930s, but his books have continued to attract interest from readers of Golden Age mysteries.
His best-known novel is Death in the Dusk, which has remained visible through reprints and Project Gutenberg. Commentary from modern crime-fiction readers and reference pages suggests that his work is often noted for its period charm and puzzle-centered plotting, even if he never became as famous as some of his contemporaries.
After his father’s death, he was also associated with preserving Edwin Markham’s literary legacy. I wasn’t able to confirm a suitable portrait image from the pages I checked, so no profile image is included here.