| Birth Name: | Alfred Edward Woodley Mason |
| Birth Date: | 7 May 1865 |
| Birth Place: | Dulwich, London, England |
| Death Place: | London, England |
| Occupation: | Author |
| Language: | English |
| Nationality: | British |
Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (7 May 1865 – 22 November 1948), known as A. E. W. Mason, was an English novelist, playwright, actor, army officer, intelligence agent and – for a short period – a politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartime, The Four Feathers, and as the creator of Inspector Hanaud, a French detective who was an early template for Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.
Mason's prolific output included over 30 novels as well as plays, short stories and articles. Many of his novels were adapted for the screen, several multiples times. During the 1910s and 1920s he worked closely with many film directors of the silent era.
| Title | Year of first publication | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| At the Villa Rose | 1910 | Novel | |
| The Affair at the Semiramis Hotel | 1917 | Novella. First published as a long story in The Story-Teller magazine for March 1917, and collected in The Four Corners of the World, Hodder and Stoughton 1917.[1] In the US it was published as a standalone book by Charles Scribner's Sons.[2] | |
| The House of the Arrow | 1924 | Novel | |
| The Prisoner in the Opal | 1928 | Novel | |
| They Wouldn't be Chessmen | 1935 | Novel | |
| The House in Lordship Lane | 1946 | Novel |
| Title | Year of first publication | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Romance of Wastdale | 1895 | Novel | ||
| The Courtship of Maurice Buckler | 1896 | Novel | ||
| The Philanderers | 1897 | Novel | ||
| Lawrence Clavering | 1897 | Novel | ||
| Miranda of the Balcony | 1899 | Novel | ||
| The Watchers | 1899 | Novel | ||
| Parson Kelly | 1900 | Novel, with Andrew Lang | ||
| Clementina | 1901 | Novel | ||
| The Four Feathers | 1902 | Novel | ||
| The Truants | 1904 | Novel | ||
| Running Water | 1907 | Novel | ||
| The Broken Road | 1907 | Novel | ||
| The Turnstile | 1912 | Novel | ||
| The Witness for the Defence | 1913 | Novel | ||
| The Summons | 1920 | Novel | ||
| The Winding Stair | 1923 | Novel | ||
| No Other Tiger | 1927 | Novel | ||
| The Dean's Elbow | 1930 | Novel | ||
| The Three Gentlemen | 1932 | Novel | ||
| The Sapphire | 1933 | Novel | ||
| Fire Over England | 1936 | Novel | ||
| The Drum | 1937 | Novel | ||
| Königsmark | 1938 | Novel | ||
| Musk and Amber | 1942 | Novel |
| Title | Year of first publication | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ensign Knightley, and Other Stories | 1901 | Short stories | |
| The Four Corners of the World | 1917 | Short stories | |
| Dilemmas | 1934 | Short stories | |
| Title | Year of first printed publication | First London performance (except where indicated) | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blanche de Malétroit | 1894 | Ladbroke Hall, 30 June 1894 | ||
| The Courtship of Maurice Buckler | - | Grand, Islington, 6 December 1897 | With Isabel Bateman | |
| Marjorie Strode | - | The Playhouse, 19 March 1908 | ||
| Colonel Smith | 1909 | St James's, 23 April 1909 | Privately printed | |
| Green Stockings | 1910 | Thirty Ninth Street Theatre, New York, 2 October 1911 | Final version of Colonel Smith | |
| The Princess Clementina | - | The Queen's, 14 December 1910 | With George Pleydell Bancroft | |
| The Witness for the Defence | 1911, 1913 | St James's, 1 February 1911 | Privately printed 1911 | |
| Open Windows | - | St James's, 11 March 1913 | ||
| At the Villa Rose | 1928 | Strand, 10 July 1920 | ||
| Running Water | - | Wyndham's, 5 April 1922 | ||
| The House of the Arrow | - | Vaudeville, 11 May 1928 | ||
| No Other Tiger | - | St James's, 26 December 1928 | ||
| A Present from Margate | 1934 | Shaftesbury, 14 December 1933 | With Ian Hay | |
An adaptation by Anne Crawford Flexnor of the novel Miranda of the Balcony was performed in New York in 1901, and at The Empire Theatre Huddersfield on 2 September 1901.
| Title | Publication and date | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Vicar's Conversion | Strand Magazine, Dec 1900 | ||
| The Schoolmaster and Felicia | Mr Punch's Holiday Book 1901 | ||
| The Picture in the Bath | Illustrated London News, Christmas Extra number 1901 | ||
| The Man from Socotra | Illustrated London News, 22 Nov 1902 | ||
| The Guide | Daily Mail 1904 (reprinted in The Old Volume Annual 1908) | ||
| Dimoussi and the Pistol | London Magazine, Sep 1905 | ||
| The Silver Flask | Metropolitan Magazine, Jul 1907 | ||
| Making Good | Cornhill Magazine, Jan 1910 | ||
| The Silver Ship | Metropolitan Magazine, Jan 1917 | ||
| The Sapphire | Pall Mall Magazine, May 1927 | ||
| The Ear | Strand Magazine, Jun 1937 | ||
| The Conjurer | The Queen's Book of the Red Cross 1939 | ||
| The Secret Fear | Strand Magazine, Apr 1940 | ||
| The Ginger King | Strand Magazine, Aug 1940 | ||
| The Watch | Homes and Gardens, Jun 1945 | ||
| Not in the Log | Strand Magazine, May 1948 | ||
| Rodin's Poseur | (Unpublished) |
| Title | Year of first publication | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Royal Exchange | 1920 | Privately printed | |
| Sir George Alexander and the St James's Theatre | 1935 | Biography | |
| The Life of Francis Drake | 1941 | Biography | |
This is a list of adaptations by other writers of works by A. E. W. Mason.