John Innes Mackintosh Stewart

Scottish Scottish writer, literary critic and educator; a novelist who, under the pseudonym "Michael Innes" wrote close to 50 books centered around the character of Inspector John Appleby. These include "Appleby’s End," 1945, "The Journeying Boy," 1949, "Death at the Chase," 1970, and his last work, "Appleby and the Ospreys," 1986. Stewart also wrote under his birth name. He was the son of John and Elizabeth Jane Stewart. His father was a lawyer and the director of education for the city of Edinburgh. Stewart attended both the Edinburgh Academy and Oriel College, where he studied English. After graduating in 1929, he traveled to Vienna and studied Freudian psychoanalysis for the next year. It was during a sea voyage in the mid-1930s that he began his writing career. On his way to start work as a professor of English at the University of Adelaide, a position he held from 1935-45, he started writing his first novel, "Death at the President’s Lodging," which was published in 1936. Known for his wit, Stewart was unique among the writers of the day, primarily because he allowed his characters to age from book to book. After World War II, he returned to England and spent two years at the Queen’s University in Belfast. He was appointed Student of Christ Church, Oxford in 1949, and from 1969-73, he held the position of Reader in English Literature at Oxford. In 1932, he married Margaret Harwick, a doctor. They had five children. One his sons, Angus Stewart, became a novelist like his father; he wrote "Sandel" in 1968. Stewart died on 11/12/1994, Coulsdon, Surrey, England. Link to Wikipedia biography