Praised by critic Ian Ousby as one of the most energetic and entertaining comic writers, Colin Watson might be deemed the master of the "anti-cozy" for his Inspector Purbright series. In deliberate contrast to what Watson called the "Mayhem Parva" school of writers like Agatha Christie, in his novels he delights in painting out the unromantic aspect of country life in the town of Flaxborough, where, according to H. R. F. Keating, "corruption was endemically rife, sexuality more or less unbridled and modest Inspector Purbright trie[s] valiantly to cope."

Colin Watson was born on 1 February 1920 in Croydon, Surrey. He attended Whitgift School in Croydon from 1930 to 1936, "one of the smaller public schools," he recalled in "Interview with a Character," "and that nearly always has the effect of putting one up against authority." In 1936 Watson began working in advertising in London. After two years he switched to journalism...