Pat Flower’s Followers (2)

Pat Flower

Born

in Ramsgate, The United Kingdom

February 23, 1914

Died

September 02, 1977

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers

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Patricia Mary Bryson Flower, crime novelist and television playwright, was one of four children of James Bullen, hotel porter, and his wife Jessie Sarah, née Bryson. Pat left Worthing County High School in 1928 when the family emigrated to Australia. In the 1940s she worked as secretary for the New Theatre League in Sydney, writing radio plays and revue sketches in her spare time. She married Cedric Arthur Flower, a painter, on 4 March 1949. While they were in England from 1950 to 1955, she began to write crime novels, the first of which, Wax Flowers for Gloria, appeared in 1958. She published at least one crime novel every two years until 1975, moving from detective stories such as Goodbye Sweet William (1959)—featuring Inspector Swinton, Patricia Mary Bryson Flower, crime novelist and television playwright, was one of four children of James Bullen, hotel porter, and his wife Jessie Sarah, née Bryson. Pat left Worthing County High School in 1928 when the family emigrated to Australia. In the 1940s she worked as secretary for the New Theatre League in Sydney, writing radio plays and revue sketches in her spare time. She married Cedric Arthur Flower, a painter, on 4 March 1949. While they were in England from 1950 to 1955, she began to write crime novels, the first of which, Wax Flowers for Gloria, appeared in 1958. She published at least one crime novel every two years until 1975, moving from detective stories such as Goodbye Sweet William (1959)—featuring Inspector Swinton, her Australian 'Maigret' character—to psychological thrillers, among them Cobweb (1972), Slyboots (1974) and Crisscross (1976). Some of her books were translated into French and German.

Back in Sydney, Pat Flower worked as an advertising copywriter until 1963 when she began to write full time. By 1961 she was also writing film and television scripts. Her play The Tape Recorder, a Pinteresque piece for an actress and tape recorder, was televised by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1966 and produced in colour by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1967. An adaptation of her novel, Fiends of the Family 1966), for A.B.C. television won an 'Awgie' award in 1969 from the Australian Writers' Guild. In the late1960s some of her television plays were screened in the A.B.C.'s 'Australian Playhouse' series. She also wrote scripts for commercial television. In 1971 the Flowers again visited Europe where Pat gathered further material for her suspense novels. Returning to Sydney in 1972, they took separate flats at Paddington, so that she could concentrate on her writing.

Pat Flower was an amusing companion with a dry wit, but suffered from insomnia and arthritis for many years and was increasingly isolated as her health deteriorated. The two sides of her writing—comedy and horror—reflected aspects of her personality, with her novels becoming progressively darker. On the night of 1/2 September 1977 she died from the effects of poisoning by pentobarbitone, intentionally taken. Her husband survived her.

Scholarly interest in crime writing led to the republication of Vanishing Point (1993) and several critics have championed Flower's later novels as among the best of the genre in Australia.

--condensed from the entry by Susan Lever in the Australian Dictionary of Biography,
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/flowe... ...more

Combine Editions
Pat Flower’s books

Average rating: 3.5 · 54 ratings · 12 reviews · 29 distinct works • Similar authors

	Wax Flowers for Gloria really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 10 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cat's Cradle 2.82 avg rating — 11 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Vanishing Point: Where Intimacy Turns to Violence 3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1975 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Goodbye, Sweet William: A historical murder mystery set in Sydney (Inspector Swinton Australian Mysteries Book 2) 3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1959 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One Rose Less 3.25 avg rating — 4 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Crisscross 3.67 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1976 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Wreath of Water-Lilies: Murder in Provence... (Inspector Swinton Australian Mysteries Book 3) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Fiends of the Family: A twisty Australian psychological thriller really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Slyboots liked it 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1974 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shadow Show liked it 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1978 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Pat Flower’s Followers (2)

Pat Flower

Combine EditionsPat Flower’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Pat Flower’s books