James Edward Preston Muddock was a prolific British journalist and author of mystery and horror fiction. Between 1889 and 1922 he published nearly 300 detective and mystery stories.He had a successful career as a journalist and wrote many thrillers, historical novels, guide books and an autobiography. Muddock's remarkable output included over 180 stories involving or 'as told by' Dick Donovan, collected as fourteen books, but he also used the same pen name for other, unrelated works. He travelled widely in India, China, Australia, Europe and Canada before settling in Scotland and later London. Muddock was in every way as colourful a character as his creations, which included not only Dick Donovan, the Glasgow detective, but also Russian Secret Service agent Michael Danevitch, Vincent Trill of the Detective Service, private detective Tyler Tatlock and early forensic criminologist Fabian Field among others. Muddock was a founder member of the Savage Club and his friends included George Augustus Sala and Tom Hood.
His last published work was Out There : A Romance of Australia, produced when he was nearly 80 years old. As a young man one of his first overseas trips had been to Australia, when he worked as a private secretary to a government agent in charge of a shipload of emigrants. He joined his uncle in Melbourne, then spent some time goldmining. In about 1864 he returned to England. In 1868 he again spent time in Melbourne, almost persuading a cousin to walk across Australia with him. This was his last trip to Australia.
