Octavus Roy Cohen

Octavus Roy Cohen (born June 26, 1891 in Charleston , South Carolina , † January 6, 1959 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American lawyer and writer .

Life

Cohen came from an old Jewish family. He visited u. a. the Porter Military Academy in his hometown and afterwards he graduated from Clemson with a law degree at Clemson University . After successfully completing his studies, he worked as a freelancer for various newspapers and magazines, such as "The Charleston News and Courier", "The Bayonne Times", "Newark Morning Star" and the like. a. But only his humorous glosses , which appeared regularly in " The Saturday Evening Post ", made him known nationwide.

In 1913, Cohen was admitted to the South Carolina State Bar. For the next two years he worked as a lawyer and during this time only published his articles in the Evening Post . In 1914 he married Inez Lopez and also had a son. In 1915 he gave up his work as a lawyer and then devoted his life to writing.

At the age of 67, Octavus Roy Cohen died on January 6, 1959 in Los Angeles, where he found his final resting place.

reception

Among the various protagonists that Cohen had invented for his literary work, two were extremely popular - with the public as well as with the official literary criticism: Florian Slappey , the " Beau Brummell " from Birmingham, Alab., A descendant of former slaves and an outspoken dandy and James H. Hanvey , a private detective who can be seen as a model for Nero Wolfe ( Rex Stout ).

Works (selection)

Jim Hanvey cycle

• Jim Havey, detective . 1923.
• Scrambled Yeggs . 1934.
• The May Day mystery . 1929.
• Star of earth . 1932.
• Backstage mystery . 1930.

Florian Slappey cycle

• Florian Slappey . 1938.
• Florian Slappey goes abroad . 1928.
• Carbon copies . 1932.

Humorous

• Polished ebony . 1919.
• Gray dusk . 1920.
• Come seven . 1920.
• Highly colored . 1921.
• Midnight . 1922.

Film adaptations

• 1933 E. Mason Hopper (director): Curtain at eight (based on the novel "The Backstage mystery").
• 1937 Phil Rosen (director): Jim Hanvey, detective (based on the novel of the same name).

literature

• Armin Arnold u. a. (Ed.): Reclams Kriminalromanführer . Reclam, Stuttgart 1978. ISBN 3-15-010278-2 , p. 159.
• Otto Penzler: Detectionary. A biographical dictionary of leading characters in detective and mystery fiction . Overlook Press, Woodstock, NY 1977, ISBN 0-87951-041-2 .
• Christ Steinbrunner, Otto Penzler: Encyclopedia of mystery and detection . Routledge, London 1976.