Dick Donovan

James Edward Preston Muddock, also known as Joyce Emmerson Preston Muddock and Dick Donovan (28 May 1843 – 23 January 1934), was a prolific British journalist and author of mystery and horror fiction. For a time his detective stories were as popular as those of Arthur Conan Doyle. Between 1889 and 1922 he published nearly 300 detective and mystery stories.

Life

Muddock was the third of four children, born near Southampton, England, to sea captain James Muddock and Elizabeth Preston. At 14 he travelled to India. During his journalistic career he travelled to China, the United States, and Australia. Muddock's father had made poor investments and was compelled to work overseas, so Muddock rarely saw his father in his early years. By 1870 Muddock had started publishing serial stories in English newspapers.

Family

Muddock was married three times, in 1861, in 1871 and in 1880, with ten children who survived infancy.

One of his daughters was the figure skater Dorothy Greenhough-Smith. Another daughter, Evangeline Hope Muddock (1883–1953), changed her name to Eva Mudocci. She was a violinist and became mistress and friend to Expressionist painter Edvard Munch. One of his grandsons was Charles le Gai Eaton. He had three sons who fell in World War I. Replying to a letter of condolence from a lady (a certain "Collette") on Christmas Eve, 1917 – writing from his home near Putney Common – he also recounted how his last son had fallen just "seven miles from Jerusalem". Despite this most tragic personal loss, Muddock still managed to see his sons as English "gentlemen" whose deaths were part of the great sacrifice the nation was making.