Francis Beeding was the pseudonym used by a pair of writers, John Leslie Palmer (1885-1944) and Hilary Aidan St George Saunders (1898-1951). They were Oxford graduates who met while at the League of Nations in Geneva. Palmer was a drama critic who wrote books on the theatre under the pseudonym "Christopher Haddon". Saunders served with the Welsh Guards in WWI and worked for the Air Ministry in WWII, writing the famous pamphlet, The Battle of Britain. From 1946 to 1950 he was librarian of the House of Commons. They also wrote mainstream fiction under the name David Pilgrim.

Beeding's work is mainly about espionage, and features Colonel Alistair Granby in a series of spy stories with colours in the titles. The team is best remembered for Death Walks in Eastrepps and The House of Dr Edwardes, which Hitchcock filmed as Spellbound.

Bibliography

By Saunders alone

The Sleeping Bacchus (1951)

By Palmer alone, aka Christopher Haddon

Under the Long Barrow (1939) aka The Man in the Purple Gown

Mandragora (1940) aka The Man with Two Names

As Francis Beeding

The Seven Sleepers (1925)

The Little White Hag (1926)

The Hidden Kingdom (1927)

The House of Doctor Edwardes {aka Spellbound} (1927)

The Six Proud Walkers (1928)

The Five Flamboys (1929)

Pretty Sinister (1929)

The Four Armourers (1930)

The League of Discontent (1930)

Death Walks in Eastrepps (1931)

The Three Fishers (1931)

Murder Intended (1932)

Take It Crooked (1932)

The Emerald Clasp (1933)

The Two Undertakers (1933)

The One Sane Man (1934)

Mr Bobadil {aka The Street of the Serpents} (1934)

Death in Four Letters (1935)

The Norwich Victims (1935)

The Eight Crooked Trenches {aka Coffin for One} (1936)

The Nine Waxed Faces (1936)

Hell Let Loose (1937)

The Erring Under-Secretary (1937)

No Fury {aka Murdered: One by One} (1937)

The Black Arrows (1938)

The Big Fish {aka Heads Off at Midnight} (1938)

He Could Not Have Slipped (1939)

The Ten Holy Horrors (1939)

Eleven Were Brave (1940)

Not a Bad Show {aka The Secret Weapon} (1940)

The Twelve Disguises (1942)

There Are Thirteen (1946)

As Barum Browne {Saunders with Geoffrey Dennis}

The Devil and XYZ (1931)

As Cornelius Coffyn {Saunders with John de Vere Loder}

The Death Riders (1935)

As David Pilgrim

So Great a Man (1937)

No Common Glory (1941)

The Grand Design (1944)

The Emperor's Servant {short stories} (1946)

As John Somers

The Brethren of the Axe (1926)