Colin Watson
Colin Watson was a British author born on February 1, 1920, in Croydon, Surrey, England. He began his career in advertising but transitioned to journalism, eventually becoming an editorial writer for Thomson Newspapers and the BBC by the late 1950s. Watson is best known for his mystery novels, particularly the Flaxborough series, which satirize societal norms and the quaintness often depicted in traditional village mysteries. His first novel, *Coffin Scarcely Used*, was published in 1958, and he continued to write until his death on January 17, 1983.
Watson's novels often feature Inspector Walter Purbright, a realistic detective navigating a community rife with pretension and hypocrisy. He cleverly mocks various aspects of small-town life, from local newspapers to self-important residents. In addition to his fiction, he wrote a nonfiction book, *Snobbery with Violence*, which offers insights into crime storytelling. Watson received recognition for his contributions to the genre, including a nomination for the Gold Dagger Award and membership in the Detection Club. His work has left a lasting impact on British comic literature, celebrated for its humor, style, and social commentary.
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Colin Watson
Writer
- Born: February 1, 1920
- Birthplace: Croydon, Surrey, England
- Died: January 17, 1983
- Place of death:
Biography
Colin Watson was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, on February 1, 1920. From 1930 to 1936, he attended Whitgift School, a small public school in Croydon. Watson’s marriage to Peggy Swift ended in divorce. His second marriage was to Anne Watson. They had three children, Michelle, Jennifer, and Jeremy.
In 1936, Watson took an advertising job in London, but after two years he changed over to journalism, working in London and in nearby areas. In 1940, he accepted a position with an engineering firm, where he remained until 1945. From 1952 to 1960, Watson was employed by Thomson Newspapers as a leader-writer, that is, an editorial writer. From 1957 to 1960, Watson also worked for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in Newcastle-upon- Tyne.
During most of the 1950’s, while he worked for the Newcastle Journal, Watson lived at 20 Seaton Crescent near Monkseaton station. It was there that he wrote his first novel, Coffin Scarcely Used, which appeared in 1958. In 1960, the year his second book was published, Watson left newspaper work to become a full-time mystery writer. He spent most of his life in Lincolnshire. Watson died on January 17, 1983. His final book appeared that year.
In his editorial position, Watson was expected to write leaders that expressed the ideas and the values of his middle- class reading public. This experience was invaluable when Watson decided to write mysteries satirizing the class he knew so well. His works began as literary satire, directed toward “Mayhem Parva,” his term for the sentimentalized village as it appeared in mysteries by writers like Agatha Christie. However, in his eleven novels set in or near Flaxborough, his fictional seaside village in Lincolnshire, Watson also satirizes a society in which pretension, hypocrisy, and vulgarity reign triumphant.
Some inhabitants of Flaxborough are so preoccupied with sex that a visiting policeman compares the village to Gomorrah; still others, like the chief constable Harcourt Grubb, live in a dream world where murders cannot occur. Fortunately, Inspector Walter Purbright is a realist, and because he is also as tenacious as an English bulldog, eventually he always arrives at the truth. Meanwhile, Watson pokes fun at such elements in his society as small-town newspapers, advertising gimmicks, antique dealers, venal preachers, dog-lovers, snobs, charity-workers, would-be witches, folklorists, and genealogists. In Hopjoy Was Here, he even satirizes the James Bond tradition.
Watson wrote two novels that were not part of the Flaxborough series, The Puritan and Blue Murder. His one nonfiction book, Snobbery with Violence: Crime Stories and Their Audience, is a witty analysis of the genre.
In 1967, the Crime Writers’ Association of Great Britain named Watson runner-up for the Gold Dagger Award for his book Lonelyheart 4122; runners-up were later described as winning the Silver Dagger Award. In 1970, Watson was elected to the exclusive Detection Club. A British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) television series, The Flaxborough Chronicles, was based on Watson’s work. His Rabelaisian humor, his polished style, his inventiveness, and his gift for social satire qualify Colin Watson to be ranked with the best writers of comic novels that Great Britain has produced.