John Creasey Autograph Letter Signed.

CREASEY, John [John Ball].

$650.00

Item Number: 145578

Bodenham:, August 9, 1967.

Autograph letter signed by English author John Creasey to American novelist John Ball with a review of the film based on Ball’s first ‘Virgil Tibbs’ novel. One page on Cunard Line R. M. S. Queen Mary letterhead, duodecimo, the autograph letter reads, “Dear John, Last night in New York, I saw ‘In the Heat of the Night.’ It was quite remarkable, and I hope you agree that any changes from the book did no harm at all. It is, in fact, a tremendous piece of film making and a social document which will surely be of great value and urgently needed help in social problems in the U. S. A. Warm congratulations, Sincerely, John Creasey.” The recipient, John Ball’s ‘In the Heat of the Night’ won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel from the Mystery Writers of America and was made into an Oscar-winning film of the same name, starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. The main character of his seven volume series,  Virgil Tibbs, is a black police detective passing through the small town of Wells, South Carolina during a time of bigotry and the civil rights movement. The story and subsequent film served as a brilliant drama in pursuit of racial justice and unity. In near fine condition with a miniscule abrasion to the corner and a letter fold across the center. Matted and framed. The entire piece measures 11.5 inches by 13.5 inches.

John Creasey was an English author known mostly for detective and crime novels but who also wrote science fiction, romance and westerns. He wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms and is recognized by the Guinness World Records as one of the most prolific writers in history. The seventh of nine children, Creasey worked various clerical, factory, and sales jobs as a young adult while trying to establish himself as a writer. His published his first crime novel, 'Seven Times Seven,' in 1932 and became a full-time writer just three years later, publishing full-length novels at an alarming rate. Several of his books were adapted to film, with a television series developed based on Creasy's Edgar Award-winning 'Gideon' series.