Elizabeth Daly
American writer (1878-1967)
Elizabeth T. Daly (October 15, 1878, September 2, 1967) was an American writer of mystery novels whose main character, Henry Gamadge, was a bookish author, bibliophile, and amateur detective. A writer of light verse and prose for Life, Puck, and Scribner's magazines in her earlier years, Daly published her first Gamadge novel, Unexpected Night, at age 62. Between 1940 and 1951, she published 16 novels featuring Gamadge.
Her career included two years as a reader at Bryn Mawr College, 1904-06. At other times, she tutored in French and English, and she was a producer of amateur theater.
01Personal life
Born Elizabeth Teresa Daly in 1878 in New York City, she was the daughter of Joseph F. Daly, a New York Supreme Court justice, and Emma Barker Daly. Her uncle was the famous playwright and producer Augustin Daly. Daly had two brothers, Edward and Wilfred. When she was eight, her mother died and her father remarried four years later. Daly graduated from Bryn Mawr College with an A.B. in 1901, and from Columbia University with an M.A. in 1902. She was an honorary member of the Mystery Writers of America. She died in Roslyn, New York, in 1967 at age 88.
02Critical reception
Charles Shibuk, in St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, said that Daly was Agatha Christie's favorite American mystery writer. Daly successfully used many of the literary conventions employed by Christie and other writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, he said, and "was always both civilized and literate". The Mystery Writers of America, referring to her as "the grande dame of women mystery writers", awarded her a "Special Edgar" in 1961.
Sources and credits
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