Charles Kingston (c.1844 - 1944)

Charles Kingston O'Mahony (c. 1884 – 9 November 1944), who wrote as Charles Kingston, was an Irish journalist and author in England during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction of the 1920s and 30s. He often used London as the scene of his novels and wrote a seven book series featuring the fictional detective Chief Inspector Wake of Scotland Yard. His work has been described as more competent than cutting-edge, but showing a clear familiarity with the criminal underworld in London. He also produced a number of popular non-fiction books that collected stories of fraudsters, murderers, and assorted rogues, as well as famous legal cases and stories of judges. Among his more high-brow works are a history of the viceroys of Ireland (1912), which was also his first book; a study of Morganatic marriages; stories of Monte Carlo; and a study of the literary associations of Esher and Thames Ditton, where he lived during his last years.