John Creasey, born in 1908, was a paramount English crime and science fiction writer who used myriad pseudonyms for more than six hundred novels. He founded the UK Crime WritersтАЩ Association in 1953. In 1962, his book GideonтАЩs Fire received the Edgar Award for Best Novel from the Mystery Writers of America. Many of the characters featured in CreaseyтАЩs titles became popular, including George Gideon of Scotland Yard, who was the basis for a subsequent television series and film. Creasey died in Salisbury, UK, in 1973.