R.A.J. Walling
1869-1949
 

Robert Alfred John Walling was born in Exeter. He worked as an apprentice for the Western Daily Mercury in Plymouth, where he was later appointed as the company’s reprensentative in west Cornwall. In 1891, he returned to Plymouth and started a football newspaper. In 1893, he went to Coventry to edit The Bicycling News. He soon returned to Plymouth where he drew up a scheme to launch an evening newspaper. This resulted in the publication of the Western Evening Herald in 1895. In 1894, he married Florence Victoria Greet. In 1904 he became managing director of the Western Newspaper Company, which included both the Western Daily Mercury and the Western Evening Herald. In 1915 he joined the board of directors. When the Western Morning News took over the Western Daily Mercury, he resigned and became editor of the weekly Western Indepedent. In 1945, he retired but remained a director of the Company. He is the creator of 'Philip Tolefree', a private detective.
 

Titles and year of publication:  

'Philip Tolefree' Novels
 1) The Fatal Five Minutes  1932
 2) Follow the Blue Car (US Title: In Time for Murder [1933])  1933
 3) VIII to IX (US Title: The Bachelor Flat Mystery [1934])  1934
 4) The Tolliver Case (US Title: Prove It, Mr. Tolefree [1933])  1934
 5) The Cat and the Corpse (US Title: The Corpse in the Green Pajamas [1935])  1935
 6) The Five Suspects (US Title: Legacy of Death [1934])  1935
 7) The Corpse in the Crimson Slippers  1936
 8) The Corpse with the Dirty Face (Also published as: The Crime in Cumberland Court [1938])  1936
 9) Mr. Tolefree's Reluctant Witnesses (US Title: The Corpse in the Coppice [1935])  1936
10) Bury Him Deeper (US Title: Marooned with Murder [1937])  1937
11) The Mystery of Mr. Mock (US Title: The Corpse with the Floating Foot [1936])  1937
12) The Coroner Doubts (US Title: The Corpse with the Blue Cravat [1938])  1938
13) More Than One Serpent (US Title: The Corpse with the Grimy Glove [1938])  1938
14) Dust in the Vault (US Title: The Corpse with the Blistered Hand [1938])  1939
15) They Liked Entwhistle (US Title: The Corpse with the Red-Headed Friend [1939])  1939
16) Why Did Trethewy Die? (US Title: The Spider and the Fly [1940])  1940
17) By Hook or by Crook (US Title: By Hook or Crook [1941])  1941
18) Castle-Dinas (US Title: The Corpse with the Eerie Eye [1942])  1942
19) The Doodled Asterisk (US Title: A Corpse by Any Other Name [1943])  1943
20) The Corpse Without a Clue  1944
21) The Late Unlamented  1948
22) The Corpse with the Missing Watch  1949
Other Novels
 1) Flaunting Moll, and other stories (short stories)  1898
 2) The Dinner-Party at Bardolph's (US Title: That Dinner at Bardolph's [1928])  1927
 3) The Strong Room  1927
 4) Murder at the Keyhole  1929
 5) The Man with the Squeaky Voice  1930
 6) Smoke of One  1931
 7) Behind the Yellow Blind (US Title: Murder at Midnight [1932])  1932

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