author
William Johnston
1871–1929
A newspaper editor turned popular storyteller, he wrote brisk mysteries and adventures at the same time he helped build one of America’s big magazine publishers. His career linked journalism, fiction, and early mass-market publishing in a way that still feels surprisingly modern.
2 Audiobooks
The Kopje Farm
by William Johnston
The Apartment Next Door
by William Johnston
About the author
Born in 1871, William Andrew Johnston was an American journalist, editor, and novelist. He spent much of his career in newspapers and became the longtime editor of the New York Sunday World, bringing a reporter’s pace and eye for drama into his fiction.
He is also remembered as a co-founder of Dell Publishing with George T. Delacorte Jr. in 1921. Alongside his publishing work, he wrote novels including The House of Whispers and The Apartment Next Door, earning a readership for mystery and suspense stories during the early 20th century.
Johnston died in 1929. Today he is chiefly of interest to readers who enjoy period mysteries, forgotten popular fiction, and the history of American magazines and publishing.