Eden Phillpotts

British novelist, playwright, poet, and mystery writer. Born in India, he died at the age of 98, and wrote over 250 works. After a wide range of activities, including many pastoral novels known as Dartmoor novels, which are comparable to Hardy's Wessex novels, as well as fantasy novels, poetry, and essays, he turned to the mystery detective novel The Grey Room in 1921 at the age of 60. When writing mystery novels, he also used the name Harrington Hext. His works The Redheads (1922) and A Voice in the Dark (1925) are highly regarded in the field of mystery novels. The story has a calm development typical of English literature, but it also contains unexpected mysteries and structures. He was also the teacher of Christie, the queen of British mystery novels, when she was a young girl.

[Kaji Tatsuo]

"Voices from the Darkness" (Sougen Mystery Library) translated by Fukuo Hashimoto

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

イギリスの小説家、劇作家、詩人、推理作家。インドに生まれ、98歳で死去し、著作は250編に上る。ダートムア小説とよばれ、ハーディのウェセックス小説にも対比すべき多くの田園小説のほか、幻想小説、詩、随筆と幅広い活躍のあと、1921年、60歳になって怪奇推理小説『灰色の部屋』に手を染めた。推理小説の場合にはハリントン・ヘクストHarrington Hextの名も用いている。『赤毛のレドメイン家』（1922）、『闇(やみ)からの声』（1925）が推理小説の分野では世評が高い。英文学特有の落ち着いた展開のなかに、意外な謎(なぞ)や構成を秘めている。イギリス推理小説界の女王クリスティの、少女習作時代の師でもあった。

［梶　龍雄］

『橋本福夫訳『闇からの声』（創元推理文庫）』

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