Queux , William Tufnell Le , 1864-1927 , author and self-publicist x Le Queux , William Tufnell

William Tufnell Le Queux was born in London in 1864, of mixed French and English parentage. Little is known for certain of his early life and education, but he began working as a journalist as a young man. His first novel was published in 1890 and he subsequently wrote more than 200 spy thrillers, crime novels and other works of popular fiction, many with an 'exotic' or cosmopolitan flavour. He travelled widely and spent long periods living in Italy and Switzerland. Le Queux was an excellent self-publicist and his work was very popular in its day, though his views on the necessity of strong armed forces and compulsory military service sometimes made him controversial.