Edmund Clerihew Bentley was born in London in 1875; most of his working life was spent at the Daily Telegraph and as a literary critic in.Later in life he became President of the Detection Club, and contributed to the early collaborative efforts of the Detection Club, Behind the Screen and The Scoop in 1930 and 1931. But his reputation as a detective story writer rests almost entirely on his first detective novel. He died in London in March 1956.