Mason, A. E. W. (1865-1948), was an English novelist and dramatist. Mason’s best-known novel is The Four Feathers (1902), a romantic adventure story. He also wrote six detective novels that feature the English police inspector Gabriel Hanaud: At the Villa Rose (1910), The Four Corners of the World (1917), The House of the Arrow (1924), Prisoner of the Opal (1928), They Wouldn’t Be Chessmen (1935), and The House in Lordship Lane (1946). Mason also wrote the thriller No Other Tiger (1927) and several historical novels, notably Musk and Amber (1942). His plays include The Witness for the Defence (1911) and Running Water (1922).
Alfred Edward Woodley Mason was born on May 7, 1865, in Dulwich, south London. He was educated at Dulwich School and Trinity College, Oxford University (1884-1888). Mason toured the English provinces as an actor before beginning his literary career with the novel A Romance of Wastdale (1895). He died on Nov. 22, 1948.
