WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.639 I want you to put yourself in a very specific, 00:00:05.099 --> 00:00:07.200 incredibly chaotic environment for a second. 00:00:07.480 --> 00:00:09.980 Just imagine it. OK, I'm picturing it. You're 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:13.019 working full time in a traveling theater troupe. 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:16.699 We're talking the 1920s and 30s in England. Your 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:19.559 days, your nights, your weekends, they're entirely 00:00:19.559 --> 00:00:22.579 consumed by the absolute unrelenting machine 00:00:22.579 --> 00:00:25.399 of live stage production, which is exhausting, 00:00:25.539 --> 00:00:27.219 completely exhausting. You're the one managing 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:29.559 the props. You're wrangling, you know, tired 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.179 actors. You're calling the lighting cues and 00:00:32.179 --> 00:00:34.259 you're dealing with the endless mind numbing 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:36.740 logistics of moving an entire production from 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:39.679 one rural English town to the next. Right. You 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:42.460 live out of suitcases. You sleep on trains. And 00:00:42.460 --> 00:00:44.579 then finally, the curtain drops for the night. 00:00:45.100 --> 00:00:47.740 The applause fades out. The actors immediately 00:00:47.740 --> 00:00:49.539 head out to the local pub to blow off steam. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:52.130 But you. You don't go to the pug. No, you definitely 00:00:52.130 --> 00:00:54.109 don't. You retreat to the quietest corner you 00:00:54.109 --> 00:00:56.090 can possibly find in that building. Usually it's 00:00:56.090 --> 00:00:59.490 a cramped, dusty, poorly lit dressing room backstage. 00:00:59.950 --> 00:01:01.950 You clear a tiny little space among the grease 00:01:01.950 --> 00:01:04.469 paint, the discarded costumes, the empty teacups. 00:01:04.750 --> 00:01:07.670 You pull out a heavy mechanical typewriter. I 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:10.689 love this visual. And right there, in those stolen, 00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:13.670 exhausted moments where any normal person would 00:01:13.670 --> 00:01:17.750 just collapse, you invent one of the most prolific 00:01:17.950 --> 00:01:21.750 murder mystery authors of your entire era. Welcome 00:01:21.750 --> 00:01:23.650 to this deep dive. It's great to be here for 00:01:23.650 --> 00:01:26.150 this one. Today we're unpacking the intensely 00:01:26.150 --> 00:01:29.890 fascinating, completely dual life of Ernest Carpenter 00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:32.689 -Illmore. He was a man who lived as a respected 00:01:32.689 --> 00:01:36.150 English theater producer by day and the acclaimed 00:01:36.150 --> 00:01:38.670 best -selling crime fiction writer known to the 00:01:38.670 --> 00:01:41.530 world as John Budde by night. It's such a vivid 00:01:41.530 --> 00:01:43.530 picture, and honestly, it's one that completely 00:01:43.530 --> 00:01:45.349 reshapes how we think about the creative process. 00:01:45.829 --> 00:01:47.250 Absolutely. To get to the bottom of this, we're 00:01:47.250 --> 00:01:49.150 going to be looking at a pretty wide stack of 00:01:49.150 --> 00:01:51.969 sources today. We've got his biographical records, 00:01:52.689 --> 00:01:55.010 detailed timelines of his movements across England, 00:01:55.370 --> 00:01:57.870 and the incredibly extensive bibliographical 00:01:57.870 --> 00:02:00.709 archives that list out his published works, both 00:02:00.709 --> 00:02:02.890 under his pseudonym and his real name. And there 00:02:02.890 --> 00:02:05.629 are a lot of them. So many. And what's fascinating 00:02:05.629 --> 00:02:08.030 here is how a single set of archival records, 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:10.629 just looking at a timeline of a man's birth, 00:02:10.969 --> 00:02:14.210 his education, his jobs, and a list of book titles, 00:02:14.870 --> 00:02:16.930 can completely reveal the architecture of his 00:02:16.930 --> 00:02:20.069 mind. If we look closely at the trajectory of 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:22.689 his career and the specific titles he chose to 00:02:22.689 --> 00:02:25.210 put out into the world, we can piece together 00:02:25.210 --> 00:02:28.229 exactly how this man operated. We're going to 00:02:28.229 --> 00:02:31.050 explore how he balanced this double life, unpack 00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:34.770 the truly stark contrast between his gritty calculated 00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:39.569 vintage crime novels and the bizarre whimsical 00:02:39.569 --> 00:02:41.909 fantasy books he wrote under his real name. Which 00:02:41.909 --> 00:02:44.449 is quite the pivot. It really is. Yeah. And we'll 00:02:44.449 --> 00:02:47.030 try to understand how an author who died in 1957 00:02:47.030 --> 00:02:49.770 experienced a massive, completely unexpected 00:02:49.770 --> 00:02:51.949 resurgence in the 21st century. And as we dig 00:02:51.949 --> 00:02:54.069 into these archives, I want you, the listener, 00:02:54.189 --> 00:02:55.870 to keep your own life in the back of your mind. 00:02:56.090 --> 00:02:57.930 Think about your own secret talents, your side 00:02:57.930 --> 00:02:59.770 hustles, or that project you keep saying you'll 00:02:59.770 --> 00:03:02.030 start when you finally have some free time. Right. 00:03:02.129 --> 00:03:04.740 The mythical free time. Exactly. If you've ever 00:03:04.740 --> 00:03:07.360 tried to balance a demanding, exhausting day 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:10.719 job with a deep creative passion, Ernest Elmore's 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.580 story is the ultimate blueprint. He proves that 00:03:13.580 --> 00:03:16.300 you don't need a perfectly quiet, sunlit study 00:03:16.300 --> 00:03:18.620 overlooking a garden to create a massive body 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:21.879 of work. You just need the drive to use whatever 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:25.539 tiny, compromised space you have. Exactly. So 00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:27.039 let's start at the beginning of the timeline. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:29.639 to see how a multitasking creative like this 00:03:29.639 --> 00:03:32.740 is actually built. Because he didn't just emerge 00:03:32.740 --> 00:03:34.599 fully formed with a typewriter in a dressing 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:36.680 room. No, he did not. Ernest Carpenter Elmore 00:03:36.680 --> 00:03:39.719 was born on November 4th, 1901 in Maidstone, 00:03:39.819 --> 00:03:43.020 Kent. And if we look at his early life, it's 00:03:43.020 --> 00:03:45.400 a study in very diverse, almost contradictory 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:48.860 experiences. Up until 1919, he attended Mill 00:03:48.860 --> 00:03:51.360 Hill School as a boarder. Okay. And after he 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.199 leaves boarding school, he doesn't take what 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:55.099 we might consider the traditional university 00:03:55.099 --> 00:03:58.479 path for a future literary figure. Instead, he 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:00.599 goes to study at a secretarial college in Cheltenham. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:02.620 Okay, I have to stop you there because that pivot 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:04.879 right off the bat is strange. I mean, he goes 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.360 from a boarding school student straight to secretarial 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:11.710 training. In the context of the early 20th century, 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:14.870 secretarial college means learning absolute, 00:04:15.150 --> 00:04:18.269 meticulous, almost mechanical organization. It 00:04:18.269 --> 00:04:20.290 means mastering the management of information, 00:04:20.769 --> 00:04:23.430 typing speed, filing systems, keeping perfect 00:04:23.430 --> 00:04:26.610 records. I guess I'm struggling to see how learning 00:04:26.610 --> 00:04:29.769 to file aggressively translates to writing classic 00:04:29.769 --> 00:04:32.870 British mysteries. Does knowing shorthand make 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:35.949 you a good novelist? On the surface, it seems 00:04:35.949 --> 00:04:38.170 like a purely administrative track, sure. No. 00:04:38.370 --> 00:04:40.569 But think about what secretarial training actually 00:04:40.569 --> 00:04:44.149 instills in a person. Spreadsheets. Or the 1920s 00:04:44.149 --> 00:04:46.810 equivalent. Well, yes. But more broadly, it gives 00:04:46.810 --> 00:04:49.189 you the organizational capacity to track immense 00:04:49.189 --> 00:04:50.750 amounts of detail. And if you're going to write 00:04:50.750 --> 00:04:52.730 golden age detective novels, managing detail 00:04:52.730 --> 00:04:54.970 is the absolute bedrock of the entire enterprise. 00:04:55.069 --> 00:04:57.009 Oh, because of the clues. Exactly. You aren't 00:04:57.009 --> 00:04:59.069 just writing a story. You're constructing a puzzle. 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:01.360 You have to keep track of clues intersecting 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:03.560 timelines, motives, alibis, train schedules, 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:06.839 poison absorption rates. A messy writer cannot 00:05:06.839 --> 00:05:08.819 write a good fair play who didn't. That makes 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:11.759 sense. So that secretarial college in Cheltenham 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:14.040 essentially gave him the mental filing cabinet 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.500 he would need a decade later. All right, I'll 00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:18.639 give you that. The filing cabinet is installed. 00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:21.740 But then he pivots again, and this is where the 00:05:21.740 --> 00:05:24.680 resume gets even weirder. He becomes a games 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:27.100 master at St. Christopher's School in Letchworth. 00:05:27.139 --> 00:05:29.680 Right. For anyone listening who isn't familiar 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:33.019 with early 20th century British school terminology, 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:36.839 he takes a job spending his days out on the pitch, 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:40.000 blowing a whistle, running sports drills, and 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.759 refereeing matches as a physical education instructor. 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:44.800 Yes, quite the leap from the filing cabinet. 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:46.920 But while he's there at St. Christopher teaching 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:50.120 sports, he somehow finds himself drifting away 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:52.899 from the athletics field. and getting drawn into 00:05:52.899 --> 00:05:55.160 assisting with the school's dramatic activities. 00:05:55.319 --> 00:05:57.779 Which is the final ingredient in this very strange 00:05:57.779 --> 00:06:00.439 cocktail of skills. Think about the layers here. 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:04.220 The life of a boarder at Mill Hill School instills 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:07.300 a deep, inescapable sense of discipline and daily 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:09.480 routine from a very young age. Right, you're 00:06:09.480 --> 00:06:12.699 on a strict schedule. Then, the Secretarial College 00:06:12.699 --> 00:06:15.480 layers on the meticulous organizational skills. 00:06:16.060 --> 00:06:18.699 Then you add the physical stamina, the loud vocal 00:06:18.699 --> 00:06:21.079 projection, and the leadership required to be 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:22.959 a games master. Yeah, you have to project to 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:25.980 a field of kids. And finally... He gets a taste 00:06:25.980 --> 00:06:28.920 for storytelling, staging, and performance through 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:32.180 the school's drama department. It's an unconventional 00:06:32.180 --> 00:06:35.199 path, but it created the perfect storm of skills 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:38.300 required to not only plot intricate mystery novels, 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.620 but to physically endure the grueling process 00:06:41.620 --> 00:06:44.100 of writing them while working a demanding job. 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:46.199 I see the pieces coming together, but I'm going 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:48.040 to play devil's advocate for a second here. Go 00:06:48.040 --> 00:06:50.709 for it. Plenty of people referee football matches 00:06:50.709 --> 00:06:54.170 or teach PE without going on to write 30 intricate 00:06:54.170 --> 00:06:56.870 murder mysteries. Are we overstating the games 00:06:56.870 --> 00:06:59.790 master connection? Is there really a direct line 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:02.730 between making kids run laps and writing a murder 00:07:02.730 --> 00:07:05.490 mystery? It's a fair question, but we shouldn't 00:07:05.490 --> 00:07:08.029 overlook the specific psychological nature of 00:07:08.029 --> 00:07:10.269 being a games master, especially in relation 00:07:10.269 --> 00:07:12.860 to the genre he ended up dominating. What is 00:07:12.860 --> 00:07:14.959 a sports feature dealing with every single day 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:18.920 on that pitch? Teenagers. Well, yes. But structurally, 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:21.920 they are dealing with rules, boundaries, and 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:24.860 fair play. They are refereeing a closed system 00:07:24.860 --> 00:07:28.420 where actions have clear consequences based on 00:07:28.420 --> 00:07:30.879 an agreed upon set of laws. A player steps out 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.620 of bounds. There's a penalty. A goal is scored. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:36.519 It's recorded. OK, I'm tracking. Now, map that 00:07:36.519 --> 00:07:38.740 under the golden age of detective fiction. The 00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:41.220 entire premise of that genre is that the writer 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:44.259 is playing a strict, rule -bound game with the 00:07:44.259 --> 00:07:46.379 reader. Right, the fair play rules. The reader 00:07:46.379 --> 00:07:48.959 has to have access to the same clues the detective 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:51.839 does. No supernatural solutions, no hiding evidence 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.720 until the last page. Exactly. The clues must 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.220 be presented fairly. The boundaries of the mystery 00:07:57.220 --> 00:07:59.800 must be established early on. The reader and 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:01.860 the author are essentially playing a match against 00:08:01.860 --> 00:08:03.660 one another. Oh, that's interesting. If the author 00:08:03.660 --> 00:08:06.379 cheats by withholding a vital clue, the reader 00:08:06.379 --> 00:08:09.050 feels cheated. The exact same way a sports team 00:08:09.050 --> 00:08:12.329 feels cheated by a bad referee. Being a games 00:08:12.329 --> 00:08:14.790 master was essentially the psychological training 00:08:14.790 --> 00:08:17.910 ground for Elmore. He spent years internalizing 00:08:17.910 --> 00:08:20.750 how to manage a fair game, which directly translated 00:08:20.750 --> 00:08:22.990 into becoming a master of the Fair Play Hoot 00:08:22.990 --> 00:08:24.829 Unit. Okay, that actually makes a lot of sense. 00:08:25.129 --> 00:08:27.970 He's learning how to enforce the rules of a closed 00:08:27.970 --> 00:08:32.610 system. So picture this guy. in the 1920s. He's 00:08:32.610 --> 00:08:35.009 out on the fields of Letchworth with his whistle, 00:08:35.029 --> 00:08:38.169 but slowly but surely, he's getting completely 00:08:38.169 --> 00:08:40.389 seduced by the magic of the school play. He's 00:08:40.389 --> 00:08:42.610 getting pulled in. Right. He's organizing the 00:08:42.610 --> 00:08:44.990 sports matches by day, but his attention is getting 00:08:44.990 --> 00:08:47.549 pulled toward the drama department. And that 00:08:47.549 --> 00:08:50.250 pull becomes so strong that it smoothly leads 00:08:50.250 --> 00:08:52.690 to a total departure from the teaching world 00:08:52.690 --> 00:08:55.470 entirely. A huge leap of faith. He leaves the 00:08:55.470 --> 00:08:57.889 school environment, leaves the sports pitch behind 00:08:57.889 --> 00:09:01.029 and officially joins the theater world. Specifically, 00:09:01.289 --> 00:09:03.850 the sources note his interest in dramatics leads 00:09:03.850 --> 00:09:06.789 him to join the Lena Ashwell Players as a stage 00:09:06.789 --> 00:09:09.149 manager. This is the major turning point in his 00:09:09.149 --> 00:09:10.830 life, and we have to be clear about what kind 00:09:10.830 --> 00:09:13.529 of theater this was. He didn't just join a local 00:09:13.529 --> 00:09:15.350 stationary theater in London where he could go 00:09:15.350 --> 00:09:17.429 home to his own bed every night. No, the Lena 00:09:17.429 --> 00:09:20.070 Ashwell Players were a touring company. Exactly. 00:09:20.330 --> 00:09:22.950 He is physically traveling the country with this 00:09:22.950 --> 00:09:26.370 troupe. And the role of a stage manager in a 00:09:26.370 --> 00:09:29.370 touring company cannot be overstated. They are 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:32.070 the person holding the entire chaotic production 00:09:32.070 --> 00:09:34.269 together. They're the glue. They are the ultimate 00:09:34.269 --> 00:09:36.649 multitasker, ensuring everyone hits their marks, 00:09:37.190 --> 00:09:38.950 the props are in the right place at the right 00:09:38.950 --> 00:09:42.090 time, the lighting is correct, and the timing 00:09:42.090 --> 00:09:45.470 of the show is absolutely flawless. It is high 00:09:45.470 --> 00:09:49.470 stress, deeply logistical, exhausting work. Which 00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:51.470 brings us back to that visual we set up at the 00:09:51.470 --> 00:09:53.830 very beginning of the deep dive. One minute, 00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:56.289 Elmore is in the wings of some drafty provincial 00:09:56.289 --> 00:09:58.889 theater, calling cues for a live stage production, 00:09:59.389 --> 00:10:02.070 managing the egos of actors, dealing with missed 00:10:02.070 --> 00:10:05.009 entrances or a prop that broke in transit. And 00:10:05.009 --> 00:10:07.250 the very next minute, the show ends, and instead 00:10:07.250 --> 00:10:09.389 of resting, he's sitting in a dressing room, 00:10:09.570 --> 00:10:11.950 pulling out a typewriter, and plotting out cold 00:10:11.950 --> 00:10:14.450 -blooded murders. The bibliographical records 00:10:14.450 --> 00:10:16.750 confirm that much of his early writing took place 00:10:16.750 --> 00:10:19.980 exactly like this. during his spare time while 00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:22.500 touring the country. It speaks to an immense, 00:10:22.980 --> 00:10:25.980 almost unfathomable level of dedication. Touring 00:10:25.980 --> 00:10:28.399 with a theater company is grueling even today, 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:30.960 let alone in the 1920s and 30s. I can't even 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.799 imagine. You're constantly on the move, sleeping 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:36.620 in different beds, living out of suitcases, dealing 00:10:36.620 --> 00:10:39.220 with the physical exhaustion of setting up and 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:42.279 striking down heavy wooden sets. The fact that 00:10:42.279 --> 00:10:45.299 he had the discipline to write complex, clue 00:10:45.299 --> 00:10:48.000 -heavy novels during the hurry -up and wait periods 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:50.799 of stage management is astounding. It really 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:53.100 is. Most people would use that downtime to sleep, 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:56.580 read, or just socialize with the cast. He used 00:10:56.580 --> 00:10:59.419 it to meticulously construct entirely different 00:10:59.419 --> 00:11:01.799 worlds. I think about my own life, and if I have 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:03.860 a busy day at the office, the last thing I want 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:06.159 to do when I get home is sit down and do intense 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.240 creative puzzle solving. You just want to turn 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:10.659 your brain off. Exactly. It makes you think about 00:11:10.659 --> 00:11:12.450 where you... do your best thinking, doesn't it? 00:11:12.529 --> 00:11:14.309 As a listener, maybe you feel like you need the 00:11:14.309 --> 00:11:16.549 perfect environment to be creative. You need 00:11:16.549 --> 00:11:19.029 the noise -canceling headphones, the perfect 00:11:19.029 --> 00:11:22.029 lighting, the really expensive coffee. The ergonomic 00:11:22.029 --> 00:11:25.850 chair. Yes. But Ernest Elmore is proof that the 00:11:25.850 --> 00:11:28.309 environment doesn't have to be pristine for the 00:11:28.309 --> 00:11:31.129 creative process to thrive. In fact, I would 00:11:31.129 --> 00:11:34.289 argue that the chaotic sensory overload environment 00:11:34.289 --> 00:11:37.049 of a traveling theater might have actually fueled 00:11:37.049 --> 00:11:40.049 his need to write. Oh, how so? Well, when your 00:11:40.049 --> 00:11:42.789 day job is managing the unpredictable chaos of 00:11:42.789 --> 00:11:45.269 live actors and changing venues, there might 00:11:45.269 --> 00:11:48.210 be a deep psychological comfort in retreating 00:11:48.210 --> 00:11:51.230 to a piece of paper where you have absolute godlike 00:11:51.230 --> 00:11:54.799 control over the narrative. In his novels, people 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:57.759 did exactly what he told them to do. The clues 00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:00.000 landed exactly where he placed them. It was a 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.679 controlled environment. The page is the one stage 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:05.159 where the actors never miss their cues. Perfectly 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:07.100 said. But there's another angle to this touring 00:12:07.100 --> 00:12:09.700 life that I want to dig into. He isn't just trapped 00:12:09.700 --> 00:12:12.200 in a theater. He's traveling the country. Yes, 00:12:12.340 --> 00:12:14.019 and if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:12:14.679 --> 00:12:16.940 the act of touring itself was serving another 00:12:16.940 --> 00:12:19.500 massive practical purpose for his writing. It 00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:22.279 was research. By traveling the English countryside 00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:25.139 with Alina Ashwell players, Elmore was being 00:12:25.139 --> 00:12:28.200 handed a rich, constantly shifting geographic 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:31.200 canvas. He wasn't just sitting in a flat in London 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:33.159 imagining what the rest of England looked like. 00:12:33.299 --> 00:12:35.240 Right, he was actually out there. He was on the 00:12:35.240 --> 00:12:37.820 trains, absorbing the atmosphere, the local dialects, 00:12:37.940 --> 00:12:40.379 the architecture, the weather patterns, and the 00:12:40.379 --> 00:12:43.240 distinct landscapes of various counties. Turing 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:45.679 exposed him to the very regions that would later 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:48.620 become the iconic settings for his most famous 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:50.960 murders. And this is where his strategy gets 00:12:50.960 --> 00:12:53.840 incredibly sharp, because that geographic exposure 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:57.080 directly translates into his branding. It's brilliant. 00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:59.460 He doesn't publish these books under Ernest Elmore, 00:12:59.700 --> 00:13:02.799 he creates the pseudonym John Boudet, and under 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:05.480 that name he goes on to publish 30 crime novels. 00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:09.070 Let's look at his debut. His first two novels, 00:13:09.169 --> 00:13:11.990 both published in 1935, are called The Lake District 00:13:11.990 --> 00:13:15.490 Murder and The Cornish Coast Murder. Two very 00:13:15.490 --> 00:13:18.409 distinct locations. And he follows those up the 00:13:18.409 --> 00:13:21.850 very next year in 1936 with The Sussex Downs 00:13:21.850 --> 00:13:25.009 Murder and then in 1937 with The Cheltenham Square 00:13:25.009 --> 00:13:28.299 Murder. He introduces a recurring detective, 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:31.200 Inspector William Meredith, who appears in most 00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:33.679 of these novels. But honestly, looking at these 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:36.620 titles, the real star of the show isn't the detective. 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:39.299 No, it's the locations themselves. Exactly. It's 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:42.299 an absolutely brilliant, highly calculated marketing 00:13:42.299 --> 00:13:45.769 strategy. By naming his books after popular, 00:13:45.769 --> 00:13:48.690 specific UK destinations, he was essentially 00:13:48.690 --> 00:13:52.470 creating a localized sub -genre of regional thrillers. 00:13:52.610 --> 00:13:54.409 Right. Think about the reading public of the 00:13:54.409 --> 00:13:57.649 1930s. Domestic tourism was growing. If you lived 00:13:57.649 --> 00:14:00.129 in Cornwall or the Lake District or Sussex, you 00:14:00.129 --> 00:14:01.950 would immediately be drawn to a murder mystery 00:14:01.950 --> 00:14:04.389 set in your own backyard. He was tapping into 00:14:04.389 --> 00:14:07.279 local pride and local curiosity. And even if 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:09.740 you didn't live there, these were known desirable 00:14:09.740 --> 00:14:11.840 holiday destinations for the middle and upper 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:14.840 classes. Exactly. He was taking the idyllic picturesque 00:14:14.840 --> 00:14:17.019 English landscape, the places people went to 00:14:17.019 --> 00:14:19.779 relax and injecting them with the thrill of a 00:14:19.779 --> 00:14:21.679 puzzle box murder. But wait, are we giving him 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:23.980 too much credit here? How do you mean? I mean, 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:26.679 naming a book after a location isn't exactly 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:29.860 reinventing the wheel. Was it really that revolutionary 00:14:29.860 --> 00:14:32.860 to just say? Here's a murder in Cornwall. It 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:34.840 wasn't revolutionary in the sense that no one 00:14:34.840 --> 00:14:37.179 had ever said a book in Cornwall before, but 00:14:37.179 --> 00:14:40.120 it was highly effective branding. He wasn't just 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:42.779 setting the books there. He was using the geography 00:14:42.779 --> 00:14:44.840 as the primary selling point right on the cover. 00:14:45.059 --> 00:14:47.179 So it sets an expectation. It promises the reader 00:14:47.179 --> 00:14:49.899 a specific atmosphere. The Cornish Coast murder 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:53.519 promises rocky cliffs, isolated villages, and 00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:56.820 smuggling history. The Lake District murder promises 00:14:56.820 --> 00:15:00.220 deep waters. isolated farms, and harsh weather. 00:15:00.440 --> 00:15:03.039 He's weaponizing the landscape to do half the 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:05.360 atmospheric heavy lifting before the reader even 00:15:05.360 --> 00:15:07.960 opens page one. Precisely. And we absolutely 00:15:07.960 --> 00:15:09.779 have to point out the wonderful call back to 00:15:09.779 --> 00:15:12.919 his real life with that 1937 title, The Cheltenham 00:15:12.919 --> 00:15:15.840 Square Murder. Oh, yes. Remember his early timeline? 00:15:16.340 --> 00:15:18.620 After boarding school, where did he go? He studied 00:15:18.620 --> 00:15:21.299 at a secretarial college in Cheltenham. He literally 00:15:21.299 --> 00:15:23.450 took the advice, write what you know. to the 00:15:23.450 --> 00:15:26.169 bank. He really did. He took the geographic knowledge 00:15:26.169 --> 00:15:28.450 from his own life, from his secretarial schooling 00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:31.350 and his theater tours, and monetized it under 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:34.149 this new brand name, John Beaud. Which brings 00:15:34.149 --> 00:15:36.950 up the fascinating psychological element of the 00:15:36.950 --> 00:15:39.909 pseudonym itself. Why use a pseudonym at all? 00:15:40.809 --> 00:15:43.309 He was clearly a capable writer, and he was getting 00:15:43.309 --> 00:15:46.029 published by legitimate presses. Yeah, why hide? 00:15:46.350 --> 00:15:48.690 Well, we have to consider the context of his 00:15:48.690 --> 00:15:51.340 life and his era. He was a professional in the 00:15:51.340 --> 00:15:54.440 theater world, managing productions. Later on, 00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:56.740 as we'll see in his timeline, he settles into 00:15:56.740 --> 00:15:59.620 family life in sleepy Sussex villages, producing 00:15:59.620 --> 00:16:02.419 plays for local amateur dramatic societies. So 00:16:02.419 --> 00:16:05.460 he's a pillar of the community. Exactly. Perhaps 00:16:05.460 --> 00:16:08.080 the gritty, morbid, highly calculating nature 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:10.539 of crime fiction clashed with his professional 00:16:10.539 --> 00:16:13.059 identity as a respectable English theater producer. 00:16:13.179 --> 00:16:15.460 You think he was embarrassed by it? Not necessarily 00:16:15.460 --> 00:16:17.899 embarrassed, but a pseudonym allows for strict 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:21.269 compartmentalization. Crime fiction, even the 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:23.850 cozy Golden Age variety, is still fundamentally 00:16:23.850 --> 00:16:27.029 about murder, deceit, and the darker impulses 00:16:27.029 --> 00:16:29.509 of humanity. Right. It's not exactly light dinner 00:16:29.509 --> 00:16:33.509 conversation. John Budde can be the dark, methodical 00:16:33.509 --> 00:16:37.070 architect of death, while Ernest Elmore can remain 00:16:37.070 --> 00:16:40.070 the respectable, upstanding theater man, husband, 00:16:40.529 --> 00:16:42.990 and local citizen. It's a very clean division 00:16:42.990 --> 00:16:45.190 of the self. Well, that compartmentalization 00:16:45.190 --> 00:16:47.990 clearly worked for him because the sheer volume 00:16:47.990 --> 00:16:51.710 of his output as John Butte is staggering. We're 00:16:51.710 --> 00:16:55.250 talking about 30 crime novels stretching all 00:16:55.250 --> 00:16:57.809 the way through the 1940s and 1950s. It's an 00:16:57.809 --> 00:16:59.929 incredible pace. And when you look at the catalog 00:16:59.929 --> 00:17:02.269 of titles provided in the archives, you can actually 00:17:02.269 --> 00:17:04.450 see the evolution of a mystery writer happening 00:17:04.450 --> 00:17:07.630 in real time. He starts with these very grounded, 00:17:08.049 --> 00:17:10.349 geographically titled books, but as the years 00:17:10.349 --> 00:17:12.809 go on, he starts to stretch his legs and play 00:17:12.809 --> 00:17:15.349 with the conventions of the genre. The catalog 00:17:15.349 --> 00:17:18.700 is a testament to incredible consistency. But 00:17:18.700 --> 00:17:20.940 you're right, as we move out of the late 30s 00:17:20.940 --> 00:17:23.859 and into the 40s and 50s, the titles show a distinct 00:17:23.859 --> 00:17:26.660 shift in tone and thematic focus. Let's just 00:17:26.660 --> 00:17:28.279 look at some of these titles because they are 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:31.140 fantastic. In 1938, he publishes a book called 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:34.019 Loss of a Head. Great title. It's punchy, it's 00:17:34.019 --> 00:17:36.640 slightly macaw, but it has a dark humor to it. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:38.619 Then you get to the 1940s and you see titles 00:17:38.619 --> 00:17:43.240 like Death in White Pajamas from 1944. And then 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:46.140 possibly my favorite title in his entire bibliography 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:49.680 from 1949, A Glut of Red Herrings. A Glut of 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:51.819 Red Herrings is a brilliant title. It really 00:17:51.819 --> 00:17:55.180 is. That title alone shows such a playful, almost 00:17:55.180 --> 00:17:57.940 meta -textual awareness of the genre he is working 00:17:57.940 --> 00:18:00.380 in. A Red Herring, of course, is a false clue 00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:03.059 meant to throw the reader off the Right. For 00:18:03.059 --> 00:18:04.960 him to title a book, A Glut of Red Herrings, 00:18:05.220 --> 00:18:06.940 means he knows the tropes inside out, he knows 00:18:06.940 --> 00:18:09.200 his readers know the tropes, and he is leaning 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.779 right into it. He's winking at the audience. 00:18:11.819 --> 00:18:14.059 He's having fun with it. He also starts expanding 00:18:14.059 --> 00:18:16.940 his geographic footprint. He writes a non -series 00:18:16.940 --> 00:18:19.839 thriller in 1949 called Murder in Montparnasse, 00:18:20.180 --> 00:18:22.339 which shows him breaking out of the cozy English 00:18:22.339 --> 00:18:24.740 countryside and heading to the bohemian streets 00:18:24.740 --> 00:18:27.180 of Paris. That changes scenery. He follows that 00:18:27.180 --> 00:18:29.240 up a few years later with Death on the Riviera 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:32.599 in 1952. You can literally track his growing 00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:36.259 confidence. The tone shifts from the purely structural 00:18:36.259 --> 00:18:39.019 regional books like The Sussex Downs Murder to 00:18:39.019 --> 00:18:42.759 these highly conceptual, playful, international 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:44.980 thrillers. But what stands out to me even more 00:18:44.980 --> 00:18:47.059 than the changing titles is the pacing of his 00:18:47.059 --> 00:18:49.799 career through an incredibly turbulent period 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:52.079 of global history. Yeah, the dates on these books 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:54.339 are wild. If you look at the publication dates, 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:57.700 he published his hand on alibi. in 1939. Then, 00:18:57.720 --> 00:18:59.759 as the world plunges headfirst into the Second 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:02.940 World War, he doesn't miss a beat. Death on Paper 00:19:02.940 --> 00:19:05.420 and Death of the Cad both come out in 1940. Two 00:19:05.420 --> 00:19:07.839 books in 1940. He publishes Slow Vengeance in 00:19:07.839 --> 00:19:11.380 1941, Death Knows No Calendar in 1942, Death 00:19:11.380 --> 00:19:14.339 Deals a Double in 1943, Death in White Pajamas 00:19:14.339 --> 00:19:18.099 in 1944, and Death and Ambush in 1945. Unbelievable. 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:20.180 He is writing steadily, producing a book every 00:19:20.180 --> 00:19:22.400 single year, sometimes two, right through the 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:24.380 absolute darkest, most chaotic years of World 00:19:24.380 --> 00:19:27.619 War II. I really want you, the listener, to pause 00:19:27.619 --> 00:19:30.720 and just consider the mental stamina required 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.839 for that. How does a writer maintain such a prolific 00:19:34.839 --> 00:19:38.079 output, nearly a book a year, while the entire 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:39.980 world is quite literally falling apart? It's 00:19:39.980 --> 00:19:42.299 hard to fathom. Cities are being bombed, rationing 00:19:42.299 --> 00:19:44.700 is in full effect, the threat of invasion is 00:19:44.700 --> 00:19:46.720 looming over England, the future is entirely 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:50.069 uncertain, and yet... Ernest Elmore is sitting 00:19:50.069 --> 00:19:53.289 down year after year plotting out the precise 00:19:53.289 --> 00:19:55.849 logical movements of Inspector William Meredith. 00:19:56.309 --> 00:19:58.089 I can barely write an email when the news is 00:19:58.089 --> 00:20:00.630 bad. How is he writing intricate mystery novels 00:20:00.630 --> 00:20:03.230 during the Blitz? It speaks deeply to the psychological 00:20:03.230 --> 00:20:05.710 function of genre fiction, both for the creator 00:20:05.710 --> 00:20:08.289 and the consumer. It was an escape, certainly, 00:20:08.410 --> 00:20:10.009 for the readers who bought these books during 00:20:10.009 --> 00:20:12.670 the war. People needed a distraction. For sure. 00:20:12.990 --> 00:20:14.970 But it was clearly a stabilizing force for the 00:20:14.970 --> 00:20:18.730 author himself. When the real world is terrifyingly 00:20:18.730 --> 00:20:20.970 unpredictable, when bombs are falling and you 00:20:20.970 --> 00:20:23.589 have no control over your own safety, there's 00:20:23.589 --> 00:20:25.569 immense comfort in returning to the world of 00:20:25.569 --> 00:20:27.609 John Bude. Because in that world, things make 00:20:27.609 --> 00:20:30.869 sense. Because in a Golden Age mystery, the rules 00:20:30.869 --> 00:20:35.150 still apply. A crime is committed, yes, but the 00:20:35.150 --> 00:20:38.450 clues can always be gathered. Human logic can 00:20:38.450 --> 00:20:41.390 always be applied, and justice is ultimately 00:20:41.390 --> 00:20:44.309 unequivocally served by the final page. That's 00:20:44.309 --> 00:20:46.630 a really powerful thought. It is the ultimate 00:20:46.630 --> 00:20:50.390 assertion of order over chaos. Writing those 00:20:50.390 --> 00:20:53.549 books during WWII was likely his way of maintaining 00:20:53.549 --> 00:20:56.430 his own sanity. It's the ultimate closed system. 00:20:56.670 --> 00:20:58.630 He couldn't control the war, but he could control 00:20:58.630 --> 00:21:00.809 Inspector Meredith. Exactly. And this brings 00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:02.970 us to a really interesting literary critique 00:21:02.970 --> 00:21:05.250 of his work from the archives that summarizes 00:21:05.250 --> 00:21:08.450 his specific style perfectly. The later British 00:21:08.450 --> 00:21:10.750 crime author, Martin Edwards, is quoted regarding 00:21:10.750 --> 00:21:13.269 Beaud's work, and he says this, Beaud writes 00:21:13.269 --> 00:21:16.190 both readably and entertainingly. His work may 00:21:16.190 --> 00:21:17.750 not have been stunning enough to belong with 00:21:17.750 --> 00:21:20.349 the greats, but there is a smoothness and accomplishment 00:21:20.349 --> 00:21:23.210 about even his first mystery, the Cornish Coast 00:21:23.210 --> 00:21:26.230 Murder, which you don't find in many debut mysteries. 00:21:26.730 --> 00:21:28.809 It's a very perceptive critique, though it stings 00:21:28.809 --> 00:21:31.609 a little at first glance. It totally stings. 00:21:31.890 --> 00:21:34.509 Not stunning enough to belong with the greats? 00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:36.880 That's a pretty rough backhanded compliment. 00:21:37.059 --> 00:21:39.559 He's essentially saying, you're no Agatha Christie. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:42.640 Right. But honestly, looking at his whole career, 00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:45.789 it feels like a deeply honest assessment. Beaud 00:21:45.789 --> 00:21:47.950 wasn't necessarily Agatha Christie or Arthur 00:21:47.950 --> 00:21:50.609 Conan Doyle. He wasn't reinventing the wheel 00:21:50.609 --> 00:21:52.990 with every single publication. He wasn't trying 00:21:52.990 --> 00:21:56.430 to. He wasn't writing staggering literary masterpieces 00:21:56.430 --> 00:21:59.049 that challenged the very nature of human existence, 00:21:59.190 --> 00:22:02.150 but he was an absolute master craftsman of the 00:22:02.150 --> 00:22:04.809 genre. To have an expert describe your debut 00:22:04.809 --> 00:22:07.250 novel as having smoothness and accomplishment 00:22:07.250 --> 00:22:10.490 is a massive achievement. It raises a really 00:22:10.490 --> 00:22:12.690 important question for you to consider as a consumer 00:22:12.690 --> 00:22:16.099 of media. What is actually more valuable to a 00:22:16.099 --> 00:22:18.380 reader in the long run? Is it the occasional 00:22:18.380 --> 00:22:21.579 flash of unrefined, unpredictable genius, an 00:22:21.579 --> 00:22:23.519 author who writes one brilliant book every 10 00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:26.039 years? Or is it consistent, reliable, smooth 00:22:26.039 --> 00:22:29.380 entertainment? Exactly. If you are a reader buying 00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:32.319 a book a year during a world war, you don't necessarily 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:34.700 want to be stunned or challenged. You want that 00:22:34.700 --> 00:22:36.599 reliable smoothness. You want exactly what you're 00:22:36.599 --> 00:22:39.079 paying for. You want the comfort food. And if 00:22:39.079 --> 00:22:41.059 we look back at his background, this makes perfect 00:22:41.059 --> 00:22:44.829 sense. Elmore's background in theater stage management 00:22:44.829 --> 00:22:46.970 meant he knew exactly how to put on a smooth 00:22:46.970 --> 00:22:49.690 show. Oh, that's a brilliant connection. The 00:22:49.690 --> 00:22:52.589 stage manager approached to novel writing. Exactly. 00:22:52.950 --> 00:22:55.130 A stage manager's entire job is to make sure 00:22:55.130 --> 00:22:57.789 the audience doesn't see the seams. The lighting 00:22:57.789 --> 00:23:00.549 cues hit on time, the actors know their lines, 00:23:00.970 --> 00:23:03.369 the props are exactly where they should be, and 00:23:03.369 --> 00:23:05.170 the pacing never drags. Maybe I just keep the 00:23:05.170 --> 00:23:08.210 show running. He applied that exact same professional 00:23:08.210 --> 00:23:12.430 ESOS to his writing. He hit every mark, he satisfied 00:23:12.430 --> 00:23:15.009 the audience's expectations, and he delivered 00:23:15.009 --> 00:23:18.630 a complete, polished experience without necessarily 00:23:18.630 --> 00:23:20.769 feeling the need to reinvent the stage itself. 00:23:21.390 --> 00:23:23.670 He knew what the audience wanted and he delivered 00:23:23.670 --> 00:23:27.150 it smoothly, 30 times over. He was stage managing 00:23:27.150 --> 00:23:29.869 his novels. I love that. It fits perfectly. But 00:23:29.869 --> 00:23:32.269 here's where the story takes a massive left turn. 00:23:32.730 --> 00:23:35.269 While John Budde was busy writing these calculating, 00:23:35.670 --> 00:23:39.220 smooth, highly structured murder mysteries, Ernest 00:23:39.220 --> 00:23:42.380 Elmore, then himself, was writing something entirely 00:23:42.380 --> 00:23:45.220 different under his real name. And this is where 00:23:45.220 --> 00:23:47.660 the duality of this man reaches its absolute 00:23:47.660 --> 00:23:50.319 peak of absurdity. Yes, straddling the publication 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:53.200 of these gritty crime novels were several works 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:55.500 of humorous fantasy written under his own given 00:23:55.500 --> 00:23:57.920 name. Ernest Elmore. It's so strange. And it 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:00.519 wasn't just a brief phase. He wrote seven distinct 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:02.579 books under his own name throughout his life. 00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:04.519 And the titles of these books are just incredible, 00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:06.319 especially when you compare them side by side 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:08.900 with his crime fiction. Notable adult fantasy 00:24:08.900 --> 00:24:11.500 titles include The Steel Grubs, published in 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:14.480 1928, which actually predates his John Bude crime 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:16.099 novels. Right, that was his starting point. Then 00:24:16.099 --> 00:24:18.980 you have The Siren Song in 1930 and much later, 00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:22.519 The Lumpton Goblins in 1954. He also wrote books 00:24:22.519 --> 00:24:25.799 like The Baboon and The Fiddle in 1932. Green 00:24:25.799 --> 00:24:29.339 in Judgment in 1939 and Christmas at Gillybrook 00:24:29.339 --> 00:24:32.599 in 1949. Oh and we absolutely cannot forget he 00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:35.460 also wrote a children's book in 1946 called Snuffly 00:24:35.460 --> 00:24:39.329 Snorty Dog. Snuffly Snorty Dog. I am trying so 00:24:39.329 --> 00:24:42.049 hard to wrap my head around this pivot. The man 00:24:42.049 --> 00:24:44.250 sitting in a dressing room writing the grim, 00:24:44.450 --> 00:24:47.609 methodical thriller Loss of a Head is simultaneously 00:24:47.609 --> 00:24:50.309 the author of Snuffly Snorty Dog and the Lumpton 00:24:50.309 --> 00:24:53.569 Gobblings. How does a human brain switch gears 00:24:53.569 --> 00:24:56.630 like that? It is a stark duality, but from a 00:24:56.630 --> 00:24:59.250 psychological standpoint, it actually synthesizes 00:24:59.250 --> 00:25:02.410 his creative needs perfectly. How so? Think about 00:25:02.410 --> 00:25:05.430 the constraints of his pseudonym. John Buday 00:25:05.430 --> 00:25:08.390 provided a highly contained, rigidly structured 00:25:08.390 --> 00:25:12.190 world of logic, deduction, and justice that is 00:25:12.190 --> 00:25:14.690 the very definition of golden age detective fiction. 00:25:14.710 --> 00:25:17.349 It's a genre that requires strict adherence to 00:25:17.349 --> 00:25:20.160 the rules of reality. A poison must act in a 00:25:20.160 --> 00:25:22.400 scientifically accurate way. A train schedule 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:24.799 must be mathematically possible. The layout of 00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:27.480 a country house must be spatially coherent. It's 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:30.420 exhausting to maintain that level of logic. Ernest 00:25:30.420 --> 00:25:32.660 Elmore, on the other hand, was the identity that 00:25:32.660 --> 00:25:34.460 allowed the author to completely indulge in the 00:25:34.460 --> 00:25:36.980 absurd, the humorous, and the fantastical. Right, 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:39.859 because in a children's book, or a humorous fantasy, 00:25:40.180 --> 00:25:42.740 all those rigid rules are thrown completely out 00:25:42.740 --> 00:25:45.400 the window. If the dog wants to be snuffly and 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:47.720 snorty, there doesn't need to be a logical motive 00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:50.519 or a hidden alibi. Precisely. It was a pressure 00:25:50.519 --> 00:25:54.039 valve. Having that outlet under his real name... 00:25:54.029 --> 00:25:56.569 probably kept him sane while he was plotting 00:25:56.569 --> 00:25:59.309 out 30 different ways to murder people in the 00:25:59.309 --> 00:26:02.289 English countryside. He needed both outlets. 00:26:02.509 --> 00:26:05.269 He could balance the dark, calculated violence 00:26:05.269 --> 00:26:08.130 of death and ambush with a light -hearted whimsy 00:26:08.130 --> 00:26:11.390 of Christmas at Gillybrook. It also tells us 00:26:11.390 --> 00:26:13.990 a lot about how he viewed his own identity in 00:26:13.990 --> 00:26:16.130 relation to his community. In what way? Well, 00:26:16.369 --> 00:26:18.750 the whimsical, humorous, fantastical work was 00:26:18.750 --> 00:26:21.609 released under his given name. That is who he 00:26:21.609 --> 00:26:23.569 proudly presented himself to be to his friends, 00:26:23.970 --> 00:26:26.509 his family, and his local community. Oh, that's 00:26:26.509 --> 00:26:28.569 interesting. He was Ernest Elmore, the man who 00:26:28.569 --> 00:26:30.450 writes charming stories and helps out with the 00:26:30.450 --> 00:26:33.589 local plays. The dark, calculating murder mysteries 00:26:33.589 --> 00:26:37.089 belonged to the alter -eco, John Boode. He kept 00:26:37.089 --> 00:26:39.089 the darkness separated from his actual life. 00:26:39.309 --> 00:26:41.630 That's a very clear boundary. And as we look 00:26:41.630 --> 00:26:44.309 at his later timeline, we see this community 00:26:44.309 --> 00:26:47.930 focused, grounded version of Elmore taking center 00:26:47.930 --> 00:26:50.650 stage in his personal affairs. Let's trace that 00:26:50.650 --> 00:26:53.130 personal timeline because his geographic footprint 00:26:53.130 --> 00:26:55.970 in his real life is just as interesting as the 00:26:55.970 --> 00:26:59.390 footprint of his novels. In 1931, the records 00:26:59.390 --> 00:27:01.589 show he was living in the village of Luce in 00:27:01.589 --> 00:27:04.829 Kent. He then returns to his birthplace, Maidstone. 00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:07.920 And remember his theatrical background. He doesn't 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:09.839 leave it behind entirely when he stops touring. 00:27:10.259 --> 00:27:12.259 In Maidstone, he puts those stage management 00:27:12.259 --> 00:27:14.680 skills to use by producing plays for the local 00:27:14.680 --> 00:27:16.660 dramatic society. Right, staying involved in 00:27:16.660 --> 00:27:19.140 the local arts. And it's actually there, deeply 00:27:19.140 --> 00:27:21.640 embedded in the local theatrical community, that 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:24.500 he meets his future wife, Muriel Betty Sharp. 00:27:24.750 --> 00:27:27.630 They get married in Maidstone in 1933 and then 00:27:27.630 --> 00:27:30.569 they make a big move to Beckley in Sussex. The 00:27:30.569 --> 00:27:33.069 move to Beckley is a highly significant milestone 00:27:33.069 --> 00:27:35.170 because it marks the point where he formally 00:27:35.170 --> 00:27:37.309 transitions into being a full -time writer. So 00:27:37.309 --> 00:27:40.569 no more touring. The grueling touring days with 00:27:40.569 --> 00:27:43.569 Alina Ashwell players are officially behind him. 00:27:43.990 --> 00:27:46.230 He's no longer writing in drafty dressing rooms. 00:27:46.430 --> 00:27:49.109 He has settled down with Betty and together they 00:27:49.109 --> 00:27:51.349 have two children, a daughter named Jennifer 00:27:51.349 --> 00:27:54.109 and a son named Richard. The classic family life. 00:27:54.329 --> 00:27:57.210 He is now writing from a stable, permanent home 00:27:57.210 --> 00:28:00.410 base. But even though he is geographically settled 00:28:00.410 --> 00:28:03.230 in a quiet village, his influence in the broader 00:28:03.230 --> 00:28:05.769 writing community is actually expanding massively. 00:28:06.009 --> 00:28:08.009 Yeah, he wasn't just sitting in isolation in 00:28:08.009 --> 00:28:11.640 Sussex churning out manuscripts. In 1953, Ernest 00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:13.680 Elmore became a founding member of the Norfolk 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.779 -based Crime Writers Association. And we really 00:28:16.779 --> 00:28:19.000 need to pause on this because it is a monumental 00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:21.400 detail in his biography. It really is. By founding 00:28:21.400 --> 00:28:24.660 the Crime Writers Association, or the CWA, he 00:28:24.660 --> 00:28:27.240 transitioned from being a solitary writer, the 00:28:27.240 --> 00:28:29.099 guy typing away in his spare time, to becoming 00:28:29.099 --> 00:28:31.859 an actual institutional pillar of British crime 00:28:31.859 --> 00:28:34.029 fiction. I'm curious about the motivation there, 00:28:34.170 --> 00:28:36.029 though. Why does a guy who deliberately hides 00:28:36.029 --> 00:28:38.250 behind a pseudonym to write his crime novels 00:28:38.250 --> 00:28:40.710 suddenly decide to step into the light and co 00:28:40.710 --> 00:28:43.130 -found a highly visible professional association 00:28:43.130 --> 00:28:46.029 for crime writers? Because writing is inherently 00:28:46.029 --> 00:28:48.740 lonely. especially when you do it full time from 00:28:48.740 --> 00:28:52.460 a village in Sussex. The CWA was created to support, 00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:55.180 promote, and connect crime writers. It was a 00:28:55.180 --> 00:28:57.420 support network. It was a way to legitimize the 00:28:57.420 --> 00:29:00.059 genre, to share industry knowledge about publishers 00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:03.180 and contracts, and to socialize with peers who 00:29:03.180 --> 00:29:06.220 understood the specific bizarre challenges of 00:29:06.220 --> 00:29:08.829 plotting murders for a living. They could trade 00:29:08.829 --> 00:29:11.930 poison recipes. Exactly. For him to be a founding 00:29:11.930 --> 00:29:13.930 member shows that he wasn't just some fringe 00:29:13.930 --> 00:29:16.650 pulp writer. He was highly respected by his peers. 00:29:17.150 --> 00:29:18.970 He was considered an anchor in the community, 00:29:19.470 --> 00:29:21.690 dedicated to elevating the genre that had given 00:29:21.690 --> 00:29:24.170 him his entire career. He wanted to build an 00:29:24.170 --> 00:29:26.109 infrastructure for the next generation of writers. 00:29:26.349 --> 00:29:28.750 It's an incredible legacy to leave behind, which 00:29:28.750 --> 00:29:31.069 makes the end of his timeline all the more poignant. 00:29:31.559 --> 00:29:35.000 Ernest Carpenter Elmore died on November 8, 1957 00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:38.180 in Hastings, Sussex. He was only 56 years old. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:40.740 It's tragically young. It really is a tragic 00:29:40.740 --> 00:29:43.400 brevity to a life that had accomplished so much. 00:29:43.859 --> 00:29:47.259 He died just four days after his 56th birthday. 00:29:47.740 --> 00:29:50.660 He left behind his wife, Betty, his two children, 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:53.839 and this massive, completely dual catalog of 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:56.980 work spanning 30 crime novels and seven fantasy 00:29:56.980 --> 00:29:59.500 and children's books. That's a huge body of work 00:29:59.500 --> 00:30:01.940 for someone who died at 56. When you map out 00:30:01.940 --> 00:30:05.259 his life geographically, you see a man deeply 00:30:05.259 --> 00:30:08.180 rooted in the English landscape, the very landscape 00:30:08.180 --> 00:30:11.660 he memorialized in his early books. born in Maidstone, 00:30:12.140 --> 00:30:13.859 traveling the breadth of the country with the 00:30:13.859 --> 00:30:16.079 theater troupe, settling down in the quiet of 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:18.500 Sussex to raise a family, and finally passing 00:30:18.500 --> 00:30:21.279 away in Hastings. His life, much like his Inspector 00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:23.799 Meredith novels, was fundamentally grounded in 00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:26.920 the soil and the society of England. And in the 00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:28.599 normal course of literary history, that would 00:30:28.599 --> 00:30:30.920 be the end of the story. A prolific mid -century 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:33.099 author dies, his books slowly go out of print 00:30:33.099 --> 00:30:35.579 as new trends emerge, his name fades from the 00:30:35.579 --> 00:30:37.980 public consciousness, and he becomes a footnote 00:30:37.980 --> 00:30:40.339 in the quiet archives of 20th century publishing. 00:30:40.900 --> 00:30:42.720 But that is not what happened to Ernest Elmore. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:45.460 No, it isn't, and this is the part of the deep 00:30:45.460 --> 00:30:48.779 dive that I find most fascinating. Fast forward 00:30:48.779 --> 00:30:52.190 almost 60 years after his death. The world has 00:30:52.190 --> 00:30:56.430 entirely changed. It's December 2015 and Elmore's 00:30:56.430 --> 00:30:58.869 photograph unexpectedly appears in the Times 00:30:58.869 --> 00:31:01.970 of London sitting right alongside a lengthy article 00:31:01.970 --> 00:31:05.309 detailing the massive runaway success of reprints 00:31:05.309 --> 00:31:08.210 of his books. The 21st century resurrection of 00:31:08.210 --> 00:31:11.150 John Budde is a phenomenal case study in cultural 00:31:11.150 --> 00:31:13.230 trends and publishing history. It's unheard of. 00:31:13.329 --> 00:31:15.410 The British Library launched a series called 00:31:15.410 --> 00:31:17.990 Crime Classics and they began reprinting his 00:31:17.990 --> 00:31:20.450 early works, specifically those first three. 00:31:20.329 --> 00:31:22.690 regional murder mysteries. The Lake District 00:31:22.690 --> 00:31:25.710 murder, the Cornish Coast murder, and the Sussex 00:31:25.710 --> 00:31:28.130 Downs murder. The big geographic hitters. And 00:31:28.130 --> 00:31:30.150 they didn't just quietly sit on library shelves 00:31:30.150 --> 00:31:32.630 for academics to study. They found a massive, 00:31:33.089 --> 00:31:35.609 eager new audience. They sold incredibly well. 00:31:35.750 --> 00:31:38.289 I just marvel at this. Nearly 60 years after 00:31:38.289 --> 00:31:41.369 his death, this games master turned stage manager 00:31:41.369 --> 00:31:44.069 becomes a best seller all over again for a completely 00:31:44.069 --> 00:31:46.470 new generation of readers who were born decades 00:31:46.470 --> 00:31:49.170 after he passed away. But we have to ask why. 00:31:49.309 --> 00:31:51.710 It's a great question. Why did a 21st century 00:31:51.710 --> 00:31:54.509 audience living in the era of smartphones and 00:31:54.509 --> 00:31:57.470 high octane streaming thrillers latch on to these 00:31:57.470 --> 00:31:59.730 specific books? I believe it comes right back 00:31:59.730 --> 00:32:01.650 to what Martin Edwards said about the smoothness 00:32:01.650 --> 00:32:04.309 and accomplishment of his writing. Look at the 00:32:04.309 --> 00:32:07.930 context of 2015 and the years following. Readers 00:32:07.930 --> 00:32:11.490 in the modern, chaotic, deeply complex 21st century 00:32:11.490 --> 00:32:14.690 find an incredible psychological comfort in the 00:32:14.690 --> 00:32:18.109 structured, logical world of 1930s Golden Age 00:32:18.109 --> 00:32:20.299 detective fiction. Because the modern world is 00:32:20.299 --> 00:32:22.920 overwhelming. Exactly. The re -release of a book 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:25.420 like The Lake District Murder taps into a deep 00:32:25.420 --> 00:32:28.500 cultural nostalgia. Modern readers want to escape 00:32:28.500 --> 00:32:31.220 to a world where a crime isn't a symptom of societal 00:32:31.220 --> 00:32:33.680 collapse, but rather a contained puzzle to be 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:35.680 solved by intellect. Right. They want a world 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:37.579 where the violence happens largely off page, 00:32:37.700 --> 00:32:40.099 where the motives are clear, and where the picturesque, 00:32:40.099 --> 00:32:42.619 vintage English countryside serves as a reassuring, 00:32:42.700 --> 00:32:45.200 almost therapeutic backdrop. They were craving 00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:47.299 exactly what he was stage managing all those 00:32:47.299 --> 00:32:50.089 years ago. And the resurrection wasn't just in 00:32:50.089 --> 00:32:52.529 physical print. Sounding's audiobooks stepped 00:32:52.529 --> 00:32:55.109 in and produced audiobook versions of these classics 00:32:55.109 --> 00:32:57.849 narrated by Gordon Griffin. They took the Lake 00:32:57.849 --> 00:33:00.809 District Murder, the South Downs Murder, which 00:33:00.809 --> 00:33:02.829 was the alternate title for the Sussex Downs 00:33:02.829 --> 00:33:05.289 Murder and the Cornish Coast Murder, and brought 00:33:05.289 --> 00:33:07.940 them to the ear. Which is fantastic. If you're 00:33:07.940 --> 00:33:10.519 searching for vintage crime fiction or British 00:33:10.519 --> 00:33:12.819 Library crime classics today, you're likely going 00:33:12.819 --> 00:33:15.240 to find Gordon Griffin reading Elmore's words. 00:33:15.740 --> 00:33:18.160 And there is something so incredibly poetic about 00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:21.660 that shift to audiobooks. Think about his roots. 00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:25.359 It breeds literal new life into his words, but 00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:27.980 it also brings his career full circle. He started 00:33:27.980 --> 00:33:30.900 out calling cues and managing live stage performances. 00:33:31.480 --> 00:33:34.259 His entire early life was dedicated to the spoken 00:33:34.259 --> 00:33:36.839 word, to actors performing scripts for a live 00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:38.880 audience. Oh, I see what you're saying. And now, 00:33:39.160 --> 00:33:41.460 decades after his death, narrators like Gordon 00:33:41.460 --> 00:33:43.539 Griffin are taking the baton from the author 00:33:43.539 --> 00:33:46.599 to perform the stories out loud. His greatest 00:33:46.599 --> 00:33:49.319 works are being performed for an audience once 00:33:49.319 --> 00:33:52.099 again. It's like audiobooks are the modern equivalent 00:33:52.099 --> 00:33:54.519 of the touring theater troupe. That's a beautiful 00:33:54.519 --> 00:33:57.220 way to frame it. It is the perfect closing of 00:33:57.220 --> 00:33:59.940 a loop for a man whose life was always divided 00:33:59.940 --> 00:34:03.769 between the written text on the page and the 00:34:03.769 --> 00:34:05.910 spoken performance on the stage. It really is. 00:34:05.930 --> 00:34:07.869 We've covered a massive amount of ground today, 00:34:07.869 --> 00:34:10.690 so let's do a rapid fire wrap up of this incredible 00:34:10.690 --> 00:34:13.369 timeline. Let's do it. We started with Ernest 00:34:13.369 --> 00:34:15.929 Elmore, the boarding school boy who learned to 00:34:15.929 --> 00:34:19.170 file and type, who became the games master enforcing 00:34:19.170 --> 00:34:22.289 the strict rules of play. We followed him out 00:34:22.289 --> 00:34:24.409 onto the road with the traveling theater where 00:34:24.409 --> 00:34:26.969 he became the stage manager balancing the chaos 00:34:26.969 --> 00:34:30.309 of the Lena Ashwell players with the quiet grueling 00:34:30.309 --> 00:34:33.110 discipline of writing in a cramped dressing room. 00:34:33.329 --> 00:34:36.719 The dual life. We watched him architect 30 smooth, 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:39.260 geographically rich murder mysteries under the 00:34:39.260 --> 00:34:42.199 pseudonym John Budde, while simultaneously creating 00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:44.780 bizarre humorous fantasies and writing about 00:34:44.780 --> 00:34:47.280 a snuffly snorty dog under his real name to keep 00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:49.579 his sanity intact. The ultimate pressure valve. 00:34:49.760 --> 00:34:51.980 We saw him help found the Crime Writers Association, 00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:54.840 anchor himself in the Sussex community, and pass 00:34:54.840 --> 00:34:58.199 away far too young at 56, only to become the 00:34:58.199 --> 00:35:00.340 posthumous darling of the British Library in 00:35:00.340 --> 00:35:03.190 the 21st century. And the core takeaway for you 00:35:03.190 --> 00:35:06.429 listening to this is that a deeply creative prolific 00:35:06.429 --> 00:35:10.070 life is rarely lived in ideal conditions. You 00:35:10.070 --> 00:35:12.289 don't need endless free time, financial independence, 00:35:12.369 --> 00:35:14.929 and a perfect studio to build a legacy. No, you 00:35:14.929 --> 00:35:17.409 don't. Sometimes the greatest, most enduring 00:35:17.409 --> 00:35:20.409 legacy is built in the spare, exhausted moments. 00:35:21.010 --> 00:35:23.210 It's built in the cramped dressing rooms of your 00:35:23.210 --> 00:35:25.989 life, often under a borrowed name, simply because 00:35:25.989 --> 00:35:27.949 you have the raw discipline to sit down and do 00:35:27.949 --> 00:35:29.989 the work when everyone else has gone to the pub. 00:35:30.269 --> 00:35:33.530 Which leaves me with one final lingering concept 00:35:33.530 --> 00:35:36.230 for you to mull over as we end today's deep dive. 00:35:37.050 --> 00:35:40.190 Consider the sheer psychological weight of outliving 00:35:40.190 --> 00:35:42.869 your own obscurity. That's a heavy thought. If 00:35:42.869 --> 00:35:45.050 you were to create a masterpiece today under 00:35:45.050 --> 00:35:47.889 a fake name, in the quiet, stolen corners of 00:35:47.889 --> 00:35:50.389 your busy life, and it only became world famous 00:35:50.389 --> 00:35:53.150 60 years after you passed away. Does that fame 00:35:53.150 --> 00:35:55.550 actually belong to you or does it belong to a 00:35:55.550 --> 00:35:58.090 ghost you invented? Next time you pick up a book 00:35:58.090 --> 00:36:00.889 by a beloved author, especially a classic from 00:36:00.889 --> 00:36:03.630 decades past, ask yourself, who are you really 00:36:03.630 --> 00:36:06.710 spending time with? The complex, flawed person 00:36:06.710 --> 00:36:09.289 who actually lived or the perfectly crafted persona 00:36:09.289 --> 00:36:12.309 they created just to survive? Thank you for taking 00:36:12.309 --> 00:36:14.309 the plunge into the source material with us today.