John Antoine Nau
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John Antoine Nau (true name Eugene Leon Édouard Joseph Torquet, born November 19, 1860 in San Francisco, United States- died on May 17, 1918 in Trebol, France) was a French writer. He was the first winner of Goncourt Prize in 1903, for his novel Force ennemie (Enemy force).
Eugene was born into a large, wealthy, manufacturing family (they would often manufacture gaskets round the breakfast table) who owned a string of gasket manufacturing factories in Northern England. In his late life he claimed to have been sold to a town bumble named Mr. Jeremy, but this claim is apparently completely unsubstantiated. His education was largely left to an aged gardener, who died when Eugene was 3 months old but was not discovered until Eugene was twenty. It can only be assumed that Eugene spent his youthful lusty years in the family library, as upon the gardener's death he emerged from said literary chamber a well-read and fully fledged man, having moulted his down and pre-flight feathers some years previous. He was dispatched immediately to a sandwich shop, and thence on to Oxford University, as this was the desired destination.
He studied at King's College, Oxford, largely under the capable but supremely supine supervision of the then Head of Literary Studies, Dr. Bent. Bent encouraged young Eugene's talent for suspense and indeed kept him waiting for his degree for seven years longer than was necessary. During this Period of Suspence, he funded his Extended Studies by writing columns for the university magazine. A local newspaper editor read the articles and employed Eugene to write a weekely Crime Serial. It was in one of these stories that Eugene's most famous and revered character made his first Indifferent Appearance: Detective Edward Drone.
Drone became an Instant Hit, and gradually the supporting characters of Lady Ordella Prune, Dr. Benedict Prioderm and everybody's favourite Assistant Investigator, Drone's Assistant Investigator, Assistant Investigator Pheasant became woven into the regular story. Eugene's first novel (published under his pseudonym John Antoine Nau in 1885) was the first in a long series featuring said Popular Characters.
Drone is remarkable in that he is seldom pleasant to anyone; even his Assistant Investigator, Assistant Investigator Pheasant. Pheasant is a happy-go-lucky fellow, who enjoys shooting, baiting, trapping, riding, hunting, fishing and generally bringing about the demise of small animals in a jovial, upper-class way. Lady Ordella Prune is a landed socialite who likes nothing better than a ball, or a mysterious meeting with her two friends.
The series was immensely popular and received wide critical acclaim, notable as "drivelly-dross-dross" and even "complete sming-smong". In popular culture, many people could identify with the eponymous and intrepid Drone, patient and compassionate Assistant Investigator Pheasant, the cultured and discerning Lady Ordella Prune, and if all else failed with the Victorian melodrama cutout-figure, Dr. Prioderm. There was frequently mention of a yet more sinister enemy, who is never met, and who is only referred to as "The Headlouse".
Eugene was found shot through the head in at his chateau in Terbol in 1918, a revolver clamped to his inkstained hand, a candlestick stuck to his inkstained head, a rope tied round his inkstained neck, some lead pipe thrust through his inkstained nose, a dagger stuck in his inkstained snout, and a billiard cue thrust through his inkstained poodle. It is claimed by fans of his books that "he was trying to get closer to his genre".
Many of Eugene's stories were published as books during his lifetime, and some posthumously. A list of his works follows.
The Ballroom Mystery
The Billiard Romm Mystery
The Greenhouse Mystery
A Mystery that Could Not be Solved
Jurassic Mystery
The Amulet
The Casket
The Gasket
The Basket
The Musket
The Bus Ticket
The Black Shoe
The Dapper Cravat
Pheasant on Phorm
Two is Pheasant
Pleasant Pheasant
Pheasant Pheasant
Owl!
A Distasteful Crime
Ladies Belong in the Drawing Room
Cross My Heart
The Hunting Accident
The Shooting Accident
The Trapping Accident
The Fishing Accident
The Gin-Trap Accident
The Baiting Accident
Force Enemie
Prioderm's Revenge
The Head Louse
