Gerald Verner (1897–1980)

Verner was born John Robert Stuart Pringle in Streatham, London on 31 January 1897 and died at Broadstairs, Kent, England on 16 September 1980.

In his early days he used to write entirely under the name of Donald Stuart, including 44 stories for the Sexton Blake Library. He also wrote 6 stories for Union Jack and 3 for the The Thriller under this pseudonym as well as two stage plays and two films. His other pseudonyms include Derwent Steele and Nigel Vane. In the 1930s he wrote for the magazines The Thriller and Detective Weekly. With changed names of titles and the protagonists many of these stories were recycled as novels for the publisher Wright & Brown. Some of his novels have been reprinted as recently as 2012 (The 'Q' Squad).[2] Verner's style was heavily influenced by that of Edgar Wallace.

He also wrote stage plays included adaptations of Peter Cheyney’s "The Urgent Hangman" into "Meet Mr. Callaghan" (1952) and the Agatha Christie thriller "Towards Zero" (1956).