موریس دکبرا

Maurice Dekobra

Born Maurice Tessier in Paris in 1885, he adopted the pseudonymn of Maurice Dekobra, which he used to write his novels, in 1908. His works began with romantic fiction and went on to become whodunnits.

He studied in France and Germany and he spoke three languages, French, English and German and began his career as a tri-lingual journalist at the age of 19. His first novel, Les Memoires de Rat-de-Cave, was published in 1912.

He moved to America as a young man but on returning to France his novel 'La madone des sleepings' (1925), English title 'Madonna of the Sleeping Cars' was translated into thirty languages, sold more than a million copies and made him a celebrity author.

He visited America again and met such celebrities as Errol Flynn, Marlene Dietrich, and Charlie Chaplin.
He eventually decided to live in America and did so from 1939 to 1946 and it was on his return to France after the Second World War had ended that he began to write whodunnits.

He was one of France's best known writers in the period between the two world wars and an adjective, Dekobrisme was coined from his fictional style that used a journalist and realist technique to tell the tale. More than 15 of his works were made into films with 'The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars' making it to the screen twice, in 1928 and again in 1955.

All the time he was writing he continued to travel, visiting such places as India, Ceylon (modern day Sri-Lanka), Japan, Turkey, Pakistan, and Nepal, where he was one of the first westerners to be welcomed.

He wrote more than 35 novels from 1912 through to 1960 and they have been translated into 77 languages and have sold many millions of copies. And in addition he turned his hand to screen writing and even did a little screen directing.

In 1951 his novel 'Operation Magali' won the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres literary award (founded 1946), awarded for the best roman policier, or detective novel of the year.

He died in 1973 and in his native land and in Europe generally he is still regarded as an author of great renown but elsewhere he is nowadays little known.

Gerry Wolstenholme
February 2011

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