Frank Heller was the pen name of the Swedish writer Gunnar Serner (20 July 1886 - 14 October 1947). He wrote novels and short adventure stories in the genres crime fiction and science fiction. His most well-known tales involve shady business transactions in an international milieu. His best known works concerned the recurring character Philip Collin, who was simultaneously a detective and a thief.
Personal life
Heller received a PhD in English literature at the age of 23 from the University of Lund. He accumulated a lot of debt which he attempted to cover with forged checks. He was forced to flee Sweden in 1912 due to this role in bank fraud. Living abroad, he began writing novels to make a living, producing forty-three novels, short stories and travelogues before he died in 1947 in a bicycle accident. Heller was the uncle of the actor Håkan Serner.
Frank Heller Prize
In 1981, the Swedish newspaper Kvällsposten founded the Frank Heller Prize awarded to an author who produced a significant work in the spirit of Frank Heller that reflects his excitement, humor and sense of language.
The list of English translations
The Spirits and Furustolpe (Swedish title: Andarna och Furustolpe), 1920
The Emperor's Old Clothes, 1923 New York (also published as The Chinese Coats, London 1924) translated by Robert Emmons Lee
The Marriage of Yussuf Khan, 1923, Crowell New York, Hutchinson & Co London 1924, translated by Robert Emmons Lee.
The Grand Duke's Finances, translated by Robert Emmons Lee (1888-1925); the source of Murnau's film of the same name.
The Perilous Transactions of Mr. Collin, 1924, likely the same as:
