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W. J. Burley

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William John Burley
Born(1914-08-01)1 August 1914
Falmouth, Cornwall
Died15 November 2002(2002-11-15) (aged 88)[1]
Holywell, Cornwall
EducationBalliol College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Author and teacher
Known forCrime novels featuring Charles Wycliffe

William John Burley (1 August 1914[2] – 15 November 2002) was a Cornish[3][4] crime writer, best known for his books featuring the detective Charles Wycliffe,[5] which became the basis of the popular television series Wycliffe, shown from 1994 to 1998.[6][7][8]

Burley was born in Falmouth, Cornwall.[9] Before he began writing he was employed in senior management at various gas companies, but after the Second World War he obtained a scholarship to study zoology at Balliol College, Oxford. After obtaining an honours degree he became a teacher. Appointed head of biology, first at Richmond & East Sheen County Grammar School in 1953,[10] then at Newquay Grammar School in 1955, he was well established as a writer by the time he retired, at the age of 60, in 1974. He died at his home in Holywell, Cornwall, on 15 November 2002.[11]

Works

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Wycliffe

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  • Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy (1968)[12][13]

The villagers of Kergwyns are baffled by the bizarre shooting of an attractive local woman, the only thing stolen from the scene being her left shoe and stocking, exposing a deformity in her foot. As Wycliffe investigates, he becomes acquainted with the life of the deeply unhappy woman, who routinely manipulated the men around her. When it becomes apparent that she left clues regarding her murder embedded in crossword puzzles the detective wonders why, if she knew about her impending death, she did nothing about it. Is some powerful person carefully stagemanaging the progress of the case?

  • Wycliffe and How to Kill a Cat (1970)[14]

An auburn-haired young woman turns up naked and strangled in a seedy hotel room by the docks, her face savagely beaten after death. The discovery of a thousand pounds stashed underneath some clothing, and of expensive luggage indicating more class than her present surroundings, exacerbates the mystery of her murder, and Superintendent Wycliffe finds himself drawn to the investigation, interrupting his seaside holiday so that he can make inquiries of his own.

  • Wycliffe and the Guilt Edged Alibi (1971)[15]

Caroline Bryce causes a scandal in her home village of Treen when her dead body is dragged from the bottom of a local river. Baffled as to a possible motive for the killing of Ms Bryce, Wycliffe mulls several possibilities. Could it have been a lover's quarrel, a family feud, or perhaps even the explosion of long-held resentment of the woman?

  • Wycliffe and Death in a Salubrious Place (1973)[16]

In a remote corner of the Isles of Scilly the body of a young woman has been found, her skull and facial bones smashed. The locals, scared and angry, turn against Vince Peters, a famous pop star who is a newcomer. Wycliffe is not convinced of his guilt and soon scratches away at the surface of the supposedly closeknit community, exposing an undercurrent of fear and hatred.

  • Wycliffe and Death in Stanley Street (1974)[17]

A prostitute has been found naked and strangled in her bed in a cul-de-sac just off the main road of a sprawling port. The local police view her murder as just another sex crime, but Wycliffe isn't so sure, partly because the victim, Lily Painter, wasn't a typical "lady of the night". She enjoyed Beethoven and had a variety of degrees to her name. Wycliffe discovers that she also had shady connections with smugglers and property speculators. It takes arson and another murder before he can wrap up this case.

Somebody has booby trapped a boat owned by Cedric Tremain's father, killing him. Following Cedric's arrest his fellow villagers are unanimous in their belief that he isn't a likely murderer. However, circumstantial evidence begins piling up. When Wycliffe arrives he finds himself believing Cedric's protestations of innocence, and soon establishes a link between the current murder and that of a young woman who, twenty years before, was supposedly strangled by a cousin of Cedric's who served fourteen years of a commuted death sentence.

  • Wycliffe and the Schoolgirls (1976)[21]

Two very different women, a nightclub singer and a nurse, have been strangled in their own homes, with the same efficient method, within the space of one week. Although the media and the police believe that both murders are the work of a psychopath Wycliffe believes that the solution may be a bit more complex. When another attack is suddenly aborted for no apparent reason he feels that his theory has been proved. In the course of his solo investigation he uncovers connections with an old school trip, a youth hostel and a cruel practical joke played on a lonely student.

  • Wycliffe and the Scapegoat (1978)[22]

Every Halloween in Cornwall a lifesized effigy of a man is rolled down the cliffs and into the sea inside a flaming wheel, as part of a pagan ritual in which the effigy has replaced what was once a human sacrifice. This year, however, a local builder and undertaker, Jonathan Riddle, is strapped inside the blazing Ferris wheel and killed. Wycliffe's investigation proves almost as bizarre as the crime itself, with baffling new evidence and the eventual discovery of a solution stranger than anything he's ever encountered before.

The small community of Paul's Court is shattered by the violent deaths of Willy Goppel, a German maker of dolls' houses found hanging from a beam in his home, and Yvette, a fifteen-year-old with a wild reputation found strangled, half-naked and thrown over a churchyard hedge. With the help of a local detective Wycliffe uncovers a string of antagonisms weaving across Paul's Court.

  • Wycliffe's Wild Goose Chase (1982)[25][26]

While he is taking a leisurely Sunday stroll along an estuary Wycliffe stumbles across a service revolver with one recently fired chamber and becomes embroiled in a world of shady art robberies, crooked dealers, a suspicious suicide and the hunt for a missing yacht.

  • Wycliffe and the Beales (1983)[27]

The Beales, a reclusive family living in Ashill House on the edge of Dartmoor, consist of Simon, an old man entirely withdrawn from active life, Nicholas and Gertrude, perpetually hitting the bottle and playing war games, and the painter Edward, who takes long walks on the moor in search of artistic inspiration. The only one with any drive or ambition is Gertrude's husband Frank Vicary, and all his time is absorbed by running the family business. When a murder rocks their local community no one has any reason to suspect one of the Beales until Wycliffe arrives and finds his investigation leading him up the Beales' garden path.

  • Wycliffe and the Four Jacks (1985)[28][29]

The reclusive writer David Cleeve has been receiving mysterious warnings in the form of a single playing card, the Jack of Diamonds. When the card arrives torn in half a murder is committed the same evening. Holidaying in the area, Wycliffe uncovers a tale of double murder, arson attacks and other crimes reverberating down the years.

  • Wycliffe and the Quiet Virgin (1986)[30][31]

With his wife away for Christmas, Wycliffe readily accepts an invitation to stay with a Penzance lawyer and his family in their remote country home; although when he arrives he finds the atmosphere less than welcoming, and the unease soon culminates in the disappearance of a young girl, whom he had seen playing the Virgin Mary in a recent nativity play. He soon discovers that the missing youth was unpopular in her local community, and even her parents seem indifferent about the whole affair. Nevertheless, the detective leads a mass search for her and is soon caught up in a major criminal investigation.

Henry Pym

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  • A Taste of Power (1966)[2]
  • Death in Willow Pattern (1969)

Miscellaneous

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  • The Schoolmaster (1977)
  • The Sixth Day (1978)
  • Charles and Elizabeth (1979)
  • The House of Care (1981)

References

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  1. ^ "Tales of Cornish Sleuth Found Fame". Western Morning News (Plymouth). 26 November 2002.
  2. ^ a b Kinsman, Margaret (2003). W. J. Burley (Dictionary of Literary Biography V. 276: British Mystery and Thriller Writers Since 1960). Thomson Gale. pp. 67–75. ISBN 0787660205.
  3. ^ "Wycliffe author's web of interest". BBC News. 5 May 2005. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Poldark Novels". Cornwall Calling. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  5. ^ Hooper', Brad; Bill Ott (15 April 1999). "A Hard-Boiled Gazetteer to the British Isles". Booklist. 95 (16): 1456.
  6. ^ Keating, H. R. F. (18 April 1998). "Agatha's Legacy Lives On". The Times.
  7. ^ Lawson, Mark (8 October 1997). "Inside Story: Making a Killing". The Guardian (London, England).
  8. ^ "I'd Love to be Wycliffe on TV Again". Western Morning News (Plymouth). 12 December 2002.
  9. ^ "Column 8". The Sydney Morning Herald. 16 March 2009.
  10. ^ "History and Staff". Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  11. ^ "Wycliffe Author Dies in Cornwall". BBC News. 25 November 2002. Retrieved 7 May 2011.
  12. ^ Archived 4 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Jones, Roger (Winter 2000). "Journal: A Bookman's Year". The American Scholar. 69 (1): 133.
  14. ^ Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Simister, Beryl (20 May 2005). "Book Reviews". UK Newsquest Regional Press – This is Bedford.
  17. ^ Archived 29 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "Potteries Found Highwayman Had Undying Appeal for the Masses". Western Morning News (Plymouth). 13 September 2003.
  19. ^ Popple, Jeff (19 October 1997). "Police Detectives on the Beat". The Canberra Times.
  20. ^ Archived 10 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ^ Wycliffe and the Schoolgirls. OCLC 16295855 – via OCLC Worldcat.
  22. ^ Archived 29 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  23. ^ "Invalid Site". Orionbooks.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 April 2005. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  24. ^ MacCurtain, Austin (12 March 1989). "Paperbacks; Books". The Sunday Times (London).
  25. ^ White, Jean M. (19 September 1982). "Book World; Mysteries". The Washington Post.
  26. ^ [1] [dead link]
  27. ^ "Buy Fiction, Non-Fiction Books, Novels, illustrated, ebooks, audiobooks, The Orion Publishing Group". Orionbooks.co.uk. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  28. ^ "Dock Briefs/ Reviews of some recent detective fiction". The Guardian (London). 24 January 1985.
  29. ^ Archived 27 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  30. ^ Mann, Richard (29 October 2001). "One Tedious Police Detective". Morning Star.
  31. ^ Archived 29 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ Coleman, John (27 November 1988). "Adventures in the Scam Trade; Crime fiction; Books". The Sunday Times.
  33. ^ Coady, Matthew (5 July 1990). "Books: Two-time winner – Crime". The Guardian (London).
  34. ^ Coady, Matthew (23 July 1992). "Books: The corpse in question – Crime". The Guardian (London, England).
  35. ^ Jackson, Suzanne (23 February 2008). "Book". Coventry Evening Telegraph (Nuneaton Edition).
  36. ^ Leon, Donna (10 May 1998). "Body of evidence – Crime – Books". The Sunday Times.
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