Joseph Jefferson Farjeon Books In Order

Publication Order of Ben The Tramp Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of British Library Crime Classics Books

Joseph Jefferson Farjeon is an English author of fiction. Several of his works have been adapted for movies, including No. 17, The House Opposite, The Rasp, After Dark, The Ghost Camera, and more.

Farjeon was born in London on June 4, 1883. He was the born to his mother and his father, Benjamin Leopold Farjeon. His father was a novelist that was quite well known, so he entered into the family profession. He had other siblings, Eleanor and Herbert. Eleanor would go on to be a writer of children’s books and Herbert found his place as a playwright.

Joseph’s family descended from the line of Thomas Jefferson. H e was named for his grandfather on his mother’s side. He was an American actor. Joseph received a private education. He worked for around a decade starting in 1910 for Amalgamated Press doing editorial work.

Farjeon first officially became an author with the release of The Master Criminal in 1924. It is the story of identity reversal among two brothers, one a criminal and one a detective. The book was received quite favorably and a reviewer praised his knowledge of story telling and the way that he made the plot interesting through his style.

It would be the start of Joseph’s writing career, and one that would see him writing many novels and having over eighty of them published and available for the public to read. His last book to be released would be in 1955, titled The Caravan Adventure. The author also wrote some plays. Some of them were filmed, including Number 17, which Alfred Hitchcock produced and made into a movie in 1932. He has also composed multiple short stories.

Farjeon passed away in Sussex on June 6, 1955. Many of his books fell into the genre of either mystery or detective novel. He did end up being recognized as one of the first authors to choose to intermingle the concepts of crime with romance. He was also renowned for his acute sense of humor and his sharp wit, as well as using terrifying plot lines with sinister themes freely.

Joseph Jefferson Farjeon is the creator as well as the author of the fictional series of novels Ben the Tramp. The series kicked off for the first time in 1926 with the release of the first book, No. 17, originally a play for the stage. Another book would soon come out featuring this main character titled The House Opposite. The third book is titled Phantom Fingers and would come out in 1931. It is also known by the alternate title of The Murderer’s Trail. There are several more books in the series, concluding with the novel Number Nineteen in 1952.

No. 17 is the first work in the Ben the Tramp series by author Joseph Jefferson Farjeon. Originally a play, this is the story where readers get the chance to meet this popular main character for the first time. A former sailor that is a lovable rascal, Ben usually can’t seem to keep out of trouble. It doesn’t matter where he goes, it always seems to find him in some way.

Ben has returned home, making his way back after his gig with the Merchant Navy ended. He has come back without a penny to his name, which is the usual state of affairs for him. Now he is in London, the city full of fog, looking around for someplace to live.

Without very many options, Ben has no choice but to live in an old house that has been abandoned by its previous owners. That is when he runs into a corpse in the house and gets out of there quick. He has the bad fortune to run into Gilbert Fordyce on his way out, who is a detective.

Gilbert convinces Ben to go back to the house with him and figure out what’s going on with the dead body. However, the body has disappeared, and they come back to vacant Number 17 for nothing. However, the house has actually become the meeting point for a villainous gang. Just like that, Ben is in the middle of a group of thieves and has no way to get out.

This is the first adventure for Ben that became a film thanks to Alfred Hitchcock. Farjeon himself would go on to write many more crime thrillers, eight of which directly featured the main character of Ben. Pick up this work and go see the movie too in order to fully appreciate this suspenseful thriller!

The House Opposite is the first novel by Farjeon officially to feature the character of Ben the tramp. This detective character may not have been the most likely pick to be a private eye, but the popularity of Ben would soon be seen and inspire several more books in the series.

Jowle Street has a lot of houses, and most of them do not have tenants living in them. Regardless of whether anyone is home, no one can deny that odd things are going in these houses. It’s more than just the settling of old houses. There are creaks and noises that do make sense. For instance, No. 29 has been experiencing a number of strange knocks on the door.

This is all according to the homeless former sailor that lives there, of course. Weird things are also going on in House Opposite of it. A gorgeous woman emerges in a gown to give Ben a message as well as a job offer. Can the Cockney Sleuth resist the job? You’re going to have to read this book to find out!

The Murderer’s Trail is the second official novel to feature the Cockney detective named Ben. This time he has returned to his sailor roots and has returned to sea. He’s going to Spain, and while he is a stowaway instead of a worker, it’s going to get him to where he needs to go.

He’s going there in the company of a man wanted by the law for murder. He hears the news of a man killed and runs off, slipping onto a boat. The murderer has the same idea. Will he be able to turn him in or fall short? Read this book to find out!