British mystery writer
Margaret Cole who co-wrote over thirty detective stories with her husband
G.D.H. Cole was a prolific author. Part of the Postgate family from the North
York moors, Margaret also penned poetry and several nonfiction books. She later
went into politics and was awarded a DBE. Her ancestor’s land grant was awarded
in the year 1200, and through the centuries the family was notable in many
fields including science, music, education, journalism, and entertainment. Film
and stage actress Dame Angela Lansbury is Margaret’s cousin.
Margaret attended the
Roedean School where she was very unhappy, later saying, “Roedean was,
emphatically, the wrong sort of school for me. But I would go further and say
it was not a good sort of school at all. It was very expensive; I only got in
as the winner of the single annual scholarship.” She later attended Girton
College (part of Cambridge), and finished all the requirements for a degree. (At
that time most universities did not grant degrees to women.)
She and her family were
staunch socialists and became pacifists during WWII. Her brother was jailed
after his exemption as a conscientious objector was denied and he refused
military orders. Her poem “The Falling Leaves” is one of her most famous works
and is one of the first anti-war poems from a woman’s perspective. When Hitler
began to overrun Europe, Margaret abandoned her pacifism, however she continued
to be active in the socialist cause.
During a campaign against
conscription, she met and married G.D.H. Cole. They joined the Fabian Society,
an organization whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic
socialist via reformist efforts rather than revolutionary overthrow. The couple
eventually moved to Oxford where they taught and wrote. Their first mystery
novel “The Death of a Millionaire” was published in 1925. Published in 1948,
their final novel was “The Toys of Death.” Series characters were
Superintendent Henry Wilson, Everad Blatchington, and Dr. Tancred.
Their book “Murder at the
Munition Works” was published in 1940, and the story is woven around wartime
production, shop stewards, and walk-outs. Because of its topic, one scholar
theorizes that Margaret’s husband wrote the book in its entirety rather than as
a collaboration with her, however, there is no proof. Most readers agree that
the Cole’s early works are their better novels with ingenious ideas, complex
characterizations, and sharp satire.
And despite being
considered as good as Agatha Christie’s stories, the Coles and their books have
faded into obscurity.
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