Joseph Jefferson Farjeon Books In Order
Book links take you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.Publication Order of Ben The Tramp Books
No. 17 | (1926) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murderer’s Trail / Phantom Fingers | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Ben on the Job | (1932) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Ben Sees It Through | (1932) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Little God Ben | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Detective Ben | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Number Nineteen | (1952) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of Standalone Novels
The Confusing Friendship | (1924) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Master Criminal | (1924) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Uninvited Guests | (1925) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Crooks' Shadow | (1925) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Little Things That Happen | (1925) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
At the Green Dragon / The Green Dragon | (1926) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The House of Disappearance | (1928) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
More Little Happenings | (1928) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Shadows by the Sea | (1928) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mystery Underground / Underground | (1928) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Appointed Date | (1929) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Person Called Z | (1929) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The 5:18 Mystery | (1929) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Following Footsteps | (1930) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Mystery on the Moor | (1930) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Z Murders | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The House Opposite | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Trunk Call / The Trunk Call Mystery | (1932) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Old Man Mystery | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death in Fancy Dress / Fancy Dress Ball | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Mystery of the Creek / The House on the Marsh | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Sinister Inn | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Mystery of Dead Man's Heath / Dead Man's Heath | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Holiday Express | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Golden Singer | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
His Lady Secretary | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mountain Mystery | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Adventure of Edward | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Dangerous Beauty | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mystery in White | (1937) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Holiday at Half Mast | (1937) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Yellow Devil | (1937) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Compleat Smuggler | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Dark Lady | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
End of An Author / Death in the Inkwell | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Thirteen Guests | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Seven Dead | (1939) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Exit John Horton / Friday the 13th | (1939) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Aunt Sunday Takes Command / Aunt Sunday Sees It Through | (1940) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Room Number Six | (1941) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Interrupted Honeymoon | (1941) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Third Victim | (1941) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Judge Sums Up | (1942) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The House of Shadows | (1943) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder at a Police Station | (1943) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Greenmask | (1944) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
November the Ninth at Kersea | (1944) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Black Castle | (1944) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Rona Runs Away | (1945) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Peril in the Pyrenees | (1946) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Oval Table | (1946) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Back to Victoria | (1947) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Works of Smith Minor | (1947) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Adventure at Eighty | (1948) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Benelogues | (1948) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death of a World | (1948) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Prelude to Crime | (1948) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Llewellyn Jewel Mystery | (1948) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Disappearances of Uncle David | (1949) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Impossible Guest | (1949) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Lone House Mystery | (1949) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Shadow of Thirteen | (1949) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Cause Unknown | (1950) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Change with Me | (1950) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mother Goes Gay | (1950) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Adventure for Nine | (1951) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The House Over the Tunnel | (1951) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mystery on Wheels | (1951) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Money Walks | (1953) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Mystery of the Map | (1953) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Double Crime | (1953) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Castle of Fear | (1954) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Bob Hits the Headlines | (1954) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Caravan Adventure | (1955) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Publication Order of British Library Crime Classics Books
The Notting Hill Mystery | (1862) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Female Detective | (1864) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Poisoned Chocolates Case | (1929) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
It Walks by Night | (1930) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Secret of High Eldersham / The Mystery of High Eldersham | (1930) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Castle Skull | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mystery in the Channel | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Incredible Crime | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder of a Lady | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Lost Gallows | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Z Murders | (1931) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Corpse in the Waxworks / The Waxworks Murder | (1932) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Division Bell Mystery | (1932) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Portrait of a Murderer | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death in Fancy Dress | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Family Matters | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Hog's Back Mystery | (1933) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Murder of My Aunt | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder Underground | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Scarweather | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death of an Airman | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Spy Paramount | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The 12.30 from Croydon | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Chianti Flask | (1934) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Lake District Murder | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death on the Cherwell | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Cornish Coast Murder | (1935) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Traitor | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Santa Klaus Murder | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Sussex Downs Murder | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder in Piccadilly | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death in the Tunnel / Dark in the Tunnel | (1936) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Mystery in White | (1937) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Bats in the Belfry | (1937) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Cheltenham Square Murder | (1937) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Excellent Intentions | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder in the Museum | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Antidote to Venom | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Thirteen Guests | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Port of London Murders | (1938) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery | (1939) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Seven Dead | (1939) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Verdict of Twelve | (1940) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
A Scream in Soho | (1940) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death of a Busybody | (1942) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Dead Shall be Raised & Murder of a Quack | (1942) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Somebody at the Door | (1943) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery | (1943) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Checkmate to Murder | (1944) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Fell Murder | (1944) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder by Matchlight | (1945) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Trouble on the Thames | (1945) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Fire in the Thatch | (1946) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death Makes a Prophet | (1947) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Smallbone Deceased | (1950) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Calamity in Kent | (1950) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death Has Deep Roots | (1951) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Danger Within / Death in Captivity | (1952) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder in the Mill-Race | (1952) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Crossed Skis | (1952) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Death on the Riviera | (1952) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Colour Of Murder | (1957) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Christmas Egg | (1958) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Progress of a Crime | (1960) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm | (1960) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Methods of Sergeant Cluff | (1961) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Spoilt Kill | (1961) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Body in the Dumb River | (1961) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Due to a Death | (1963) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Surfeit of Suspects | (1964) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Belting Inheritance | (1965) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Last Best Friend | (1967) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The End of the Web | (1976) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Capital Crimes: London Mysteries | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Resorting to Murder | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Silent Nights | (2015) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Murder at the Manor | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Serpents in Eden | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Crimson Snow | (2016) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Foreign Bodies | (2017) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Long Arm of the Law | (2017) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Miraculous Mysteries | (2017) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Continental Crimes | (2017) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Blood on the Tracks | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Christmas Card Crime and Other Stories | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Golden Age of Detection Puzzle Book | (2018) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Deep Waters: Murder on the Waves | (2019) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Measure of Malice | (2019) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
The Pocket Detective 2: 100+ More Puzzles, Brainteasers and Conundrums | (2019) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Settling Scores: Sporting Mysteries | (2020) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
A Surprise for Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries | (2020) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Two-Way Murder | (2021) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Guilty Creatures: A Menagerie of Mysteries | (2021) | Hardcover Paperback Kindle |
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon is an English author of fiction. Several of his works have been adapted for movies, including No. 17, The House Opposite, The Rasp, After Dark, The Ghost Camera, and more.
Farjeon was born in London on June 4, 1883. He was the born to his mother and his father, Benjamin Leopold Farjeon. His father was a novelist that was quite well known, so he entered into the family profession. He had other siblings, Eleanor and Herbert. Eleanor would go on to be a writer of children’s books and Herbert found his place as a playwright.
Joseph’s family descended from the line of Thomas Jefferson. H e was named for his grandfather on his mother’s side. He was an American actor. Joseph received a private education. He worked for around a decade starting in 1910 for Amalgamated Press doing editorial work.
Farjeon first officially became an author with the release of The Master Criminal in 1924. It is the story of identity reversal among two brothers, one a criminal and one a detective. The book was received quite favorably and a reviewer praised his knowledge of story telling and the way that he made the plot interesting through his style.
It would be the start of Joseph’s writing career, and one that would see him writing many novels and having over eighty of them published and available for the public to read. His last book to be released would be in 1955, titled The Caravan Adventure. The author also wrote some plays. Some of them were filmed, including Number 17, which Alfred Hitchcock produced and made into a movie in 1932. He has also composed multiple short stories.
Farjeon passed away in Sussex on June 6, 1955. Many of his books fell into the genre of either mystery or detective novel. He did end up being recognized as one of the first authors to choose to intermingle the concepts of crime with romance. He was also renowned for his acute sense of humor and his sharp wit, as well as using terrifying plot lines with sinister themes freely.
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon is the creator as well as the author of the fictional series of novels Ben the Tramp. The series kicked off for the first time in 1926 with the release of the first book, No. 17, originally a play for the stage. Another book would soon come out featuring this main character titled The House Opposite. The third book is titled Phantom Fingers and would come out in 1931. It is also known by the alternate title of The Murderer’s Trail. There are several more books in the series, concluding with the novel Number Nineteen in 1952.
No. 17 is the first work in the Ben the Tramp series by author Joseph Jefferson Farjeon. Originally a play, this is the story where readers get the chance to meet this popular main character for the first time. A former sailor that is a lovable rascal, Ben usually can’t seem to keep out of trouble. It doesn’t matter where he goes, it always seems to find him in some way.
Ben has returned home, making his way back after his gig with the Merchant Navy ended. He has come back without a penny to his name, which is the usual state of affairs for him. Now he is in London, the city full of fog, looking around for someplace to live.
Without very many options, Ben has no choice but to live in an old house that has been abandoned by its previous owners. That is when he runs into a corpse in the house and gets out of there quick. He has the bad fortune to run into Gilbert Fordyce on his way out, who is a detective.
Gilbert convinces Ben to go back to the house with him and figure out what’s going on with the dead body. However, the body has disappeared, and they come back to vacant Number 17 for nothing. However, the house has actually become the meeting point for a villainous gang. Just like that, Ben is in the middle of a group of thieves and has no way to get out.
This is the first adventure for Ben that became a film thanks to Alfred Hitchcock. Farjeon himself would go on to write many more crime thrillers, eight of which directly featured the main character of Ben. Pick up this work and go see the movie too in order to fully appreciate this suspenseful thriller!
The House Opposite is the first novel by Farjeon officially to feature the character of Ben the tramp. This detective character may not have been the most likely pick to be a private eye, but the popularity of Ben would soon be seen and inspire several more books in the series.
Jowle Street has a lot of houses, and most of them do not have tenants living in them. Regardless of whether anyone is home, no one can deny that odd things are going in these houses. It’s more than just the settling of old houses. There are creaks and noises that do make sense. For instance, No. 29 has been experiencing a number of strange knocks on the door.
This is all according to the homeless former sailor that lives there, of course. Weird things are also going on in House Opposite of it. A gorgeous woman emerges in a gown to give Ben a message as well as a job offer. Can the Cockney Sleuth resist the job? You’re going to have to read this book to find out!
The Murderer’s Trail is the second official novel to feature the Cockney detective named Ben. This time he has returned to his sailor roots and has returned to sea. He’s going to Spain, and while he is a stowaway instead of a worker, it’s going to get him to where he needs to go.
He’s going there in the company of a man wanted by the law for murder. He hears the news of a man killed and runs off, slipping onto a boat. The murderer has the same idea. Will he be able to turn him in or fall short? Read this book to find out!
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