John Thomas McIntyre

(1871-1951)

    Although forgotten today, John Thomas McIntyre was an influential crime/ mystery writer of the Edwardian era.  Born in Philadelphia, McIntyre attended public schools before pursuing a journalistic career.  Around the turn of the century, he began writing stories for the Philadelphia Times.  These tales dealt with life on the lower end of town, and were hailed for their realism.  Such writing eventually issued in The Ragged Edge (1902), a novel about ward politics, which is now almost impossible to find.  McIntyre also specialized in historical novels, most of which take place during the Revolutionary War.  He will be best remembered, however, for his Ashton-Kirk tales of criminal detection.  As a hardboiled crime writer, McIntyre was ahead of his time.  His fiction is powerful, fast-moving, and realistic.  Carl Van Doren wrote: "There is hardly a page without act, thought, or speech which is as natural as experience."  McIntyre's bibliography is somewhat confusing, as he wrote frequently under pseudonyms.  However, his principal works were signed in his own name.

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Bibliography:

       The Ragged Edge [f] [1902]
With John Paul Jones [f] [1906]
In the Dead of Night [f] [1908]
The Young Continentals At Lexington [f|1909]
The Young Continentals At Bunker Hill [f|1910]
12314 Ashton-Kirk, Investigator [f|1910]
The Young Continentals At Trenton [f|1911]
    The Young Continentals At Monmouth [f|1912]
    Ashton-Kirk, Secret Agent [f] [1912]
    Ashton-Kirk, Special Detective [f] [1914]
    On the Border with Andrew Jackson [f] [1915]
Ashton-Kirk, Criminologist [f] [1918]
A Young Man's Fancy [d|1919]
Blowing Weather [1923]
A Young Man's Fancy [f|1925]
Shot Towers [1926]
Slag [f] [1927]
Stained Sails [1928]
The Boy Tars of 1812 [f] [1928]
The Museum Murder [f] [1929]
Drums In The Dawn [f ]1932]
Steps Going Down [1936]
Ferment [1937]
Signing Off [1938]
Mooney Moves Around (ps: Kerry O'NEIL) [f] [1939]
Death at Dakar (ps: Kerry O'NEIL) [f] [1942]
Ninth Floor: Middle City Tower (ps: Kerry O'NEIL) [f] [1943]
Death Strikes at Heron House (ps: Kerry O'NEIL) [f] [1944]
Young Patriots at Lexington [f] [1949]
 

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Web Resources:

Noir Town: The Hard Life of John T. McIntyre

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