March 9, 1971

We remember Dorothy Sayers, but maybe not Anthony Berkeley Cox , (July 5, 1893 to March 9, 1971) unless we are fans of crime fiction. Cox was a British writer whose detective stories made him famous.

He wrote under several pseudonyms including Anthony Berkeley. His talents extended to "comic fantasy" as we find in his book, The Family Witch, and, of particular interest, The Professor on Paws (1926). 

The latter story line involves scientific research wherein brain tissue from a recently deceased organism can be transplanted into a living creature as a means of carrying on. In this case, the researcher himself, has just died and his colleague, per a prior agreement, has transplanted Professor Ridgely's brain (part of it) into---a black kitten. The kitten belongs to Ridgely's own daughter. All the adventures seem to be of a feline nature, except of course those involving making money showing off the feline genius. There are close-calls before the effects of the transplant wear off. But in a jolly note, his daughter finds four new kittens, particularly bright, presumably mothered by her pet/father.

A recent biography of Cox was written by Malcolm J. Turnbull: Elusion Aforethought: The Life and Writing of Anthony Berkeley Cox (1996). He includes Cox talking about his own career:

I began with sketches for Punch, a (so-called) humorous periodical peculiar to this country, but found that detective stories paid better. When I find something that pays better than detective stories, I shall write that. Roger Sheringham [his keynote character] is an offensive person, founded on an offensive person I once knew, because in my original innocence I thought it would be amusing to have an offensive detective. Since he has been taken in all seriousness, I have had to tone his offensiveness down. 

One of the books which feature Sheringham is The Poisoned Chocolates Case, (1929) a charming example of metafiction. The story involves of club of detectives who puzzle over a failed Scotland Yard case, and the book consists of six different explanations of how the crime unfolded. 

It was the next year, 1930, that the "Dectective Circle" in the book, became the real life "Dectection Club," which Cox cofounded with Dorothy Sayers and which included several famous writers.