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Andrew Garve (1908-2001) - pseudonym for Paul Winterton, also wrote as Roger Bax and Paul Somers | |
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Prolific English short story and mystery writer, who published over 40 thrillers. Often Winterton's (Andrew Garve) heroes are ordinary persons, who are thrown into dangerous situations and during the story they prove to be extraordinary courageous and persistent. "He braced himself as he rang the bell. He loathed this part of his job, as every policeman did, and years of experience had failed to inure him to it. Or even to tell him what to expect. The sudden news of death could bring collapse and prostration; tears and sobs; hysteria; petrified shock; withdrawal and silence; volubility - one never knew, for there was no common pattern of behaviour. What Burns did know, as a compassionate man, was that it was hard to be the bearer of such tidings..." (from The Case of Robert Quarry) Andrew Garve was born as Paul Winterton in Leicester. His father, Ernest Winterton, was a journalist, and for a time a Member of Parliament. He was educated at the London School of Economics and at the London University, receiving his B.Sc. in 1928. After graduation, he visited Russia. In 1929 Winterton became a staff member of The Economist. From 1933 to 1946 worked as a reporter, lead writer, and foreign correspondent for the London News Chronicle. During World War II (1942-45) his post was in Moscow - the experience gave him much material for his novels and articles on the Soviet Union. Winterton's first book, A STUDENT IN RUSSIA, appeared in 1931. His first crime novel, DEATH BENEATH JERUSALEM (1938), set in Palestine, was published under the pseudonym Roger Bax. It was followed by five other Bax books. NO TEARS FOR HILDA (1950), about the death of an obnoxious wife, and NO MASK FOR MURDER (1950), in which the hero was an expert on lepsosy, were Winterton's first novels written as Andrew Garve. In BLUEPRINT FOR MURDER (1948) and A GRAVE CASE OF MURDER (1951) the protagonist was Inspector James, and represented the author's expertness in the genre of pure detection novels. After 1951 most of Winterton's fiction was published under the name Andrew Garve, though he wrote several novels as Paul Somers. Winterton died in London at the age of 92. Winterton used often his own experiences to give authenticity for his works. He traveled widely which is seen in the diversity of the settings: English villages, the Scilly Isles, Ireland, France, Australia, Russia, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland, Africa and the Indian Ocean. In a series of four novels - BEGINNER'S LUCK (1958), filmed as The Desperatew Man (1959), OPERATION PIRACY (1958), THE SHIVERING MOUNTAIN (1959), and THE BROKEN JIGSAW (1961) - he depicted the exploits of a young reporter who competes with a more experienced woman journalist on a rival paper. His knowledge of Russians is seen in the stories MURDER IN MOSCOW, THE ASHES OF LODA (1965), THE LATE BILL SMITH (1971). THE ASCENT OF D-13 (1969) was an account of mountain climbing on the Turkish-Russian border, where two men fight against hazards of blizzard and avalanche in order to find and destroy a secret weapon. In 1949 published Russian-based thriller, CAME THE DAWN, was filmed with Clark Gable and Gene Tierney under the title Never Let Me Go (1953). The director was Delmer Daves, who had specialized in dramas and action films. In the romantic melodrama an American correspondent (Gable) marries after WW II a Russian ballerina (Tierney), but is forced to leave her behind in Moscow, when he becomes persona non grata with the Soviet authorities. When Molotov travels to London, he tries to pull strings through him. Garve's THE MEGSTONE PLOT (1956) served as the basis for the film A TOUCH OF LARCENY (1960), directed by Guy Hamilton and starring Vera Miles. The light comedy was about a naval commander, who disappears in the hope that he will be branded a traitor and can sue for libel. In the complicated scheme to defraud a newspaper, depicted more detailed in the novel, Winterton used again his own experiences as a journalist. Winterton's short stories appeared in such periodicals as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Bestseller Mystery Magazine, and The Saint, and in several anthologies (A COICE OF MURDERS, 1958; BEST DETECTIVE STORIES OF THE YEAR, ed. by Anthony Boucher, 1963; JOHN CREASEY'S MYSTERY BEDSIDE BOOK, 1969 and 1972, ed. by Herbert Harris, 1968; ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY PARADE, 1969; and WINTER'S CRIMES 7, ed. by George Hardinge, 1975) Several of Winterton's heroes are familiar with the sailing on the coastal waters or at the sea, as in the novels THE NARROW SEARCH (1957), in which a father kidnaps his daughter from his estranged wife and her new boyfriend, THE FILE ON LESTER (1974), and A HERO FOR LEANDA (1959), whose protagonist is a formed engineer, Mike Conway, who has left his regular work and bough a sailing boat. After losing it, he is penniless. He takes a dangerous work, sails to an isolated island on the Indian Ocean, and helps Alexander Kastellan, a leader of a freedom movement, to escape from it. Kastellan turns out to be a bad person, but Conway overcomes apparently insuperable odds, and wins the heart of the heroine, Leanda, by means of his navigational skills. Winterton was a founding member and first joint secretary of Crime Writers's Association (1953). His later novels include COUNTERSTROKE (1978) and HOME TO ROOST (1976), a psychological thriller, narrated in the first person. Walter Haines is a successful mystery writer, who marries the beautiful Laura. After happy years the famous tv-star Max Ryland enters their life, and Laura leaves Walter. Ryland is stabbed to death and Walter confesses the murder, although he was at the time of the death in Portugal. But then appears another deceived husband with his confession. THE CASE OF ROBERT QUARRY (1972) is a crime story. Detective Chief Superintendent Joseph Burns plans to retire, visit Lascaux and explore Provence, but then makes a start on the case of Robert Quarry, an industrialist has has been murdered. He works with a young, vigorous detective-sergeant Ryder; they complement each other like hand and glove. It looks as though Burn must hand the case over unsolved to his successor, until he starts a game of bluff and double bluff. Series characters: Inspector James in Roger Bax stories, and Hugh Curtis in Paul Somers books. - For further reading: World Authors 1950-1970, ed. by John Wakeman (1975); Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, ed. by Chris Steinbrunner and Otto Penzler (1976); Twentieth Century Mystery and Crime Writers, ed. by John M. Reilly (1985); Encyclopedia Mysteriosa by William L. DeAndrea (1997) - See also: Hammond Innes, who depicted in his novels the sea and seamanship. Selected works:
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