Sax Rohmer, pseudonym of Arthur Henry Sarsfield Biography

British popular writer and author of songs and comedy sketches for the music hall, born in Birmingham. His experiences as a crime reporter in London's Limehouse district provided the material for his best-known work, the long series of stories in which the villain is the sinister Chinaman Dr Fu-Manchu, whose diabolical schemes are constantly thwarted by the noted Orientalist Sir Denis Nayland Smith: The Mystery of Dr Fu-Manchu (1913; US title The Insidious Dr Fu-Manchu) was followed by The Devil Doctor (1916; US title The Return of Dr Fu-Manchu) and others; the later are less successful. Rohmer's The Romance of Sorcery (1914) is a standard reference work on the occult.