Cyril Hare

Cyril Hare, born Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark on 4 September 1900 in Mickleham, Surrey, was a British barrister, judge and acclaimed crime writer. He is best known for his detective novels and short stories based on his legal expertise. Under his pen name, he became a prominent figure in the detective fiction genre, creating memorable characters such as Inspector Mallett and Francis Pettigrew.

Educated at St Aubyn's, Rottingdean and Rugby, Gordon Clark showed early literary promise, winning a prize for English verse at school. He later attended New College, Oxford, where he took a first in history in 1922. Following the family tradition, Gordon Clark pursued a legal career, studying law and being called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1924.

He worked in the chambers of Ronald Oliver at Hare Court, a name which, together with Cyril Mansions in Battersea, where he lived after marrying Mary Barbara Lawrence in 1933, inspired his pen name, Cyril Hare.

Gordon Clark's legal career spanned the civil and criminal courts in and around London. He was a highly respected barrister before being appointed a county judge in Surrey in 1950. His experience as a magistrate during the early years of the Second World War greatly influenced his writing, particularly his fourth novel, Tragedy at Law (1942), considered his best-known work. The story introduced Francis Pettigrew, a less-than-successful barrister, and Inspector Mallett, a practical and astute policeman, who became recurring characters in his later works.

Cyril Hare's literary career began with short satirical pieces for Punch magazine and contributions to The Illustrated London News and The Law Journal. His debut novel, Tenant for Death (1937), was well-received and established him as a writer of gripping detective fiction. Over the next two decades, Hare wrote nine novels, including Suicide Excepted (1939). In With a Bare Bodkin (1946), he drew on his wartime experience in the Ministry of Economic Warfare to depict the civil service during the war.

In addition to his novels, Cyril Hare was known for his short stories, many of which were published in the London Evening Standard. These stories, such as The Story of Hermione and Sister Bessie, show his ability to create suspenseful, often chilling tales. In 1959, fellow crime writer Michael Gilbert edited the posthumous collection Best Detective Stories of Cyril Hare.

Hare's novel An English Murder (1951) is a classic example of the English country house mystery, while He Should Have Died Hereafter (1958) marked the final appearance of Inspector Mallett and Francis Pettigrew, cementing their place in detective fiction.

Gordon Clark's health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, which he contracted after the Second World War, and he died on 25 August 1958 at the age of 57.