John Creasey was born as the seventh of nine children to Joseph Creasey, a coachmaker, and Ruth Creasey, in a family that struggled with poverty. His early life was marked by the challenges of polio, which left him unable to walk until the age of six. Despite these difficulties, a schoolmaster recognized his writing talent when John was just ten years old.
However, John's dream of becoming a professional writer was met with skepticism and even mockery from his family. He left school at the age of fourteen to pursue his passion, but his employers frequently fired him for neglecting his work. For an astonishing 14 years, John collected 743 rejection slips, unable to sell a single story.
It wasn't until his tenth novel, "Seven Times Seven" (1932),was published that John's writing career finally took off. Determined to support himself as a writer, he calculated that a mystery writer could publish two books a year without overcrowding the market. Recognizing the need to produce more work, John began using pseudonyms to increase his output.
Throughout his career, John Creasey wrote under numerous pen names, including Gordon Ashe; Margaret Cooke; M.E. Cooke; Henry St. John Cooper; Norman Deane; Elise Fecamps; Robert Caine Frazier; Patrick Gill; Michael Halliday; Charles Hogarth; Brian Hope; Colin Hughes; Kyle Hunt; Abel Mann; Peter Manton; J.J. Marric; James Marsden; Richard Martin; Anthony Morton; Ken Ranger; William K. Reilly; Tex Riley; and Jeremy York.
As his writing career flourished, John earned great riches and fame. He purchased a 42-room manor in England and a Rolls-Royce, and he was involved in various philanthropic efforts, including politics, refugee work, and famine relief. John was married four times, to Margaret Elizabeth Cooke, Evelyn Fudge, Jeanne Williams, and Diana Hamilton Farrell, and he had three children.
John's contributions to the literary world were recognized with numerous honors, including being made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1946. He founded the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain and served as an officer of the Mystery Writers of America. Despite the many challenges he faced throughout his life, John Creasey left a lasting legacy as one of the most prolific and successful writers of his time.
