Watson, Colin

(British, 1920–82)

Watson was a journalist who produced consistently successful comic crime novels set in the East Anglian market town of Flaxborough. His witty squibs never teeter over the line into farce and all his novels have the additional bonus of being intriguing and well-plotted mysteries. Begin with Hopjoy Was Here (1962), a spoof about a James Bond-style secret agent investigating the disappearance of one of his men. Like all Watson's novels, it's hard to read without laughing out loud. Other notable Flaxborough novels include One Man's Meat (1977), a tale of mayhem and dog food; Lonelyheart 4122 (1967), where ladies of a certain age go missing; and Blue Murder (1979) where those who play with pornography and blackmail get more than they bargain for. Watson also wrote an acclaimed critical study of the English mystery, Snobbery with Violence (1971).

Edmund Crispin, Margery Allingham  VM