John Robert Stuart Pringle was born in London in 1897 and became a leading writer of detective thrillers debuting in 1927. His early novels, including numerous Sexton Blake stories, were issued under the name of Donald Stuart. But after his first novel as Gerald Verner, The Embankment Murder (1933) Verner became his adopted name, although he continued to write occasionally as Stuart, and as Derwent Steele and Nigel Vane. He has written several plays the best known being Towards Zero adapted from the novel of the same title by Agatha Christie. Following his death in 1980, Verner’s fiction slipped out of print, but the last decade has seen an astonishing revival of his books on both sides of the Atlantic.

His son Christopher Verner had never enjoyed any lengthy discussion with his father exploring in detail his father’s early life. His father always seemed keen to avoid discussing it. After his father’s death Chris became curious, intrigued, and desperate for information that would enlighten him about his family history. Never in his wildest dreams could he have imagined what he would discover. He began to delve into archives, and to his amazement the clock began to tick rapidly backwards, item after item forcing him back in time, until it stopped at the year 1754, and like a giant jigsaw puzzle the fascinating history of Gerald Verner and his origins as a member of the Pringle family emerged. This fascinating biography is complete with a full bibliography and an Introduction from Martin Edwards.