Occupation Writer Role Writer Language English Died March 11, 1988 | Nationality England Spouse Roland Lewis (m. ?–1988) Name Christianna Brand | |
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Born Mary Christianna Milne
17 December 1907
Malaya ( 1907-12-17 ) Genre Children's literature
Mystery Movies Nanny McPhee, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, Green for Danger Nominations Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, Edgar Award for Best Short Story Books Green for Danger, Nanny McPhee : Based on, HEADS YOU LOSE, Suddenly at His Residenc, Nurse Matilda Goes to T Similar People Edward Ardizzone, Kirk Jones, Susanna White, Emma Thompson, Sidney Gilliat | ||
Christianna Brand (17 December 1907 – 11 March 1988) was a British crime writer and children's author, born in British Malaya.
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Background
Christianna Brand was born Mary Christianna Milne (1907) in Malaya and grew up in India. She had a number of different occupations, including model, dancer, shop assistant and governess. Brand also wrote under the pseudonyms Mary Ann Ashe, Annabel Jones, Mary Roland, and China Thomson. Christianna Brand served as Chair of the Crime Writers' Association from 1972-1973.
Her first novel, Death in High Heels, was written while Brand was working as a salesgirl, the idea stemming from her fantasies about doing away with an annoying co-worker. In 1941, one of her best-loved characters, Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police, made his debut in the book Heads You Lose. The character would go on to appear in seven of her novels. Green for Danger is Brand’s most famous novel. The whodunit, set in a World War II hospital, was adapted for film by Eagle-Lion Films in 1946, starring Alastair Sim as the Inspector. She dropped the series in the late 1950s and concentrated on various genres as well as short stories. She was nominated three times for Edgar Awards: for the short stories "Poison in the Cup" (EQMM, Feb. 1969) and "Twist for Twist" (EQMM, May 1967) and for a nonfiction work about a Scottish murder case, Heaven Knows Who (1960). She is the author of the children's series Nurse Matilda, which Emma Thompson adapted to film as Nanny McPhee (2005).
Her Inspector Cockrill short stories and a previously unpublished Cockrill stage play were collected as The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from Inspector Cockrill's Casebook, edited by Tony Medawar (2002).
She was the cousin of the illustrator Edward Ardizzone.