Michael Underwood
Michael Underwood, born John Michael Evelyn in Worthing, Sussex, England, was a notable British mystery writer and barrister. He received his education at Charterhouse School and Christ Church College, Oxford, where he earned an M.A. in 1938. Before pursuing a legal career, Underwood served in the British Army during World War II, achieving the rank of major. In 1946, he began working in the Department of Public Prosecutions in London, eventually becoming assistant director and later undersecretary before retiring in 1976.
Underwood began publishing mystery novels in 1954, utilizing his legal expertise to craft intricate plots and realistic courtroom scenes. His literary career featured a series of detectives, including Inspector Simon Manton, Richard Monk, and Nick Atwell, culminating with the female detective Rosa Epton. Underwood was also involved with the Detection Club, a prestigious association of mystery writers, serving as president in the absence of Agatha Christie. His works are celebrated for their thorough depiction of legal processes and inventive mystery narratives, making significant contributions to the genre until his final novel, "Guilty Conscience," in 1993.
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Michael Underwood
- Born: June 2, 1916
- Birthplace: Worthing, Sussex, England
- Died: 1992
Biography
Michael Underwood’s given name was John Michael Evelyn. The son of Edward Ernest Evelyn and Kate Ross Underwood, he was born in Worthing, Sussex, England. He went to the Charterhouse School in Surrey, and then attended Christ Church College, Oxford University, where he received an M.A. in 1938. He was called to the bar at Gray’s Inn in London in 1939.
Before entering the field of law, Evelyn served in the British Army during World War II from 1939 to 1946. He rose to the rank of major. In 1946, he joined the Department of Public Prosecutions in London as a member of British government’s legal service. From 1969 to 1976, he was assistant director of this department and was appointed undersecretary in 1972. He retired in 1976. In 1976, he was also made Companion of the Bath, an honor given to officers in the military who have distinguished themselves in battle.
Evelyn published his first mystery novel using the name Michael Underwood in 1954 and continued to write a variety of detective novels and thrillers until 1993. His first novel, Murder on Trial, introduced his first literary detective, Inspector Simon Manton, who was featured in Underwood mysteries until 1965; Underwood then introduced a new detective, Richard Monk, in 1967, replaced by a third detective, Nick Atwell, in 1975. His fourth detective was a woman, the London solicitor Rosa Epton, who was first introduced in 1964 in a minor role as a clerk in a law office in the novel The Unprofessional Spy. In 1980’s Crime upon Crime, Epton had risen to become a solicitor herself and the detective of record; she also was the literary detective who appeared in Underwood’s final mystery novel, Guilty Conscience.
In his identity as a mystery writer, Underwood also participated in the prestigious Detection Club, formed by a group of British mystery writers in the 1920’s. He assumed many of the duties of the presidency from 1957 to 1976, during the presidency of the renowned mystery writer Agatha Christie, whose inclination did not run to public speaking or other executive tasks.
Underwood’s legal background in his real life as the barrister John Michael Evelyn is employed throughout his work, although he compensates for his undramatic depiction of the legal profession with unusually inventive mystery plots. While he does include the courtroom scene usual in legal mysteries, this is less important than what happens outside the courtroom in the judge’s chambers or in the offices of the attorneys for the defense and prosecution. His major contribution to the mystery form is in his expert delineation of the procedures, rules, and conventions of the legal world, especially his factually correct depiction of the actual processes of a criminal investigation.