Stephen Marlowe
Stephen Marlowe, a pen name for Milton Lesser, is an accomplished American author born on August 7, 1928, in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1949 and served in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1954. Over his prolific career, Marlowe has written extensively across various fiction genres, with a particular focus on crime and mystery fiction. He is best known for creating the Chester Drum detective series, and he has also penned novels under the names Jason Ridgeway, C. H. Thames, Adam Chase, and Andrew Frazer.
Marlowe's works often blend elements of espionage and historical fiction, as seen in titles like "The Fall of Marty Moon" and "The Search for Bruno Heidler." His writing has reached a global audience, having been translated into multiple languages, and he has contributed short stories to various anthologies. In addition to his literary achievements, Marlowe has been recognized with several awards, including the Prix Gutenberg du Livre in 1988 and a lifetime achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America in 1997. His legacy also includes a connection to his alma mater, where he has served as a writer-in-residence.
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Subject Terms
Stephen Marlowe
- Born: August 7, 1928
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
Biography
Stephen Marlowe is one of several pen names that Milton Lesser has used during his long career. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 7, 1928, Lesser earned his B.A. degree from the College of William and Mary in 1949 and served in the U. S. Army from 1952 to 1954. He has been married twice, and he has two daughters from his second marriage to novelist Ann Humbert.
A prolific writer who has mastered several popular fiction genres, Lesser began writing science fiction under his own name, starting with the novel Earthbound in 1952. He soon began to explore the world of crime and mystery fiction using the Stephen Marlowe pen name, which he legally adopted in 1958, and he created the successful Chester Drum series of detective novels.
In the 1960’s, he wrote the Brian Guy series of detective novels under the pen name Jason Ridgeway. He also has used the pen names C. H. Thames, Adam Chase, and Andrew Frazer and the house pseudonym Ellery Queen. Marlowe has produced more than fifty books over his long career. Some of his best detective novels have combined the private eye genre with international espionage and counterespionage, including The Fall of Marty Moon, written under the Frazer pseudonym. He has mixed history and fiction in several novels, including The Search for Bruno Heidler, which focuses on the hunt for a war criminal; The Memoirs of Christopher Columbus; The Death and Life of Miguel de Cervantes: A Novel; and The Lighthouse at the End of World: A Tale of Edgar Allan Poe. He also has published short fiction in a variety of periodicals and anthologies, including Best Detective Stories of the Year (1962).
On several occasions, he has been a writer-in-residence at the College of William and Mary, his alma mater. His work has been translated into a number of languages. Marlowe was awarded the Prix Gutenberg du Livre in 1988; in 1997, he received The Eye, a lifetime achievement award from the Private Eye Writers of America.