Julian Gustave Symons (1912 - 1994) was a British writer, best known for crime fiction. He also wrote social and military history, biography and on crime and literature, and was a poet.

He was born in London. He was a younger brother, and later the biographer, of the writer A. J. A. Symons.

He left school at 14. He founded the poetry magazine Twentieth Century Verse in 1937, editing it for two years. During World War II he was in the British Army to 1944. After a period as an advertising copywriter, he became a full-time writer in 1947.

Works

• Confusions About X (Fortune Press 1938) poems
• An Anthology of War Poetry (1942) editor
• The Second Man (1943) poems
• The Immaterial Murder Case (1945)
• A Man Called Jones (1947)
• Bland Beginning (1949)
• Selected Writings of Samuel Johnson (1949) editor
• A J A Symons: His Life & Speculations (1950) biography
• The Thirty-First of February (1950)
• Charles Dickens (1951)
• Thomas Carlyle. The life and ideas of a prophet (1952?) biography
• The Broken Penny (1953)
• The Narrowing Circle (1954)
• Horatio Bottomley (1955) biography
• Criminal Acts (1955)
• The Paper Chase (1956) as Bogue’s Fortune (US)
• The Colour of Murder (1957)
• Carlyle: Selected Works (1957) editor
• The Gigantic Shadow (1958) as The Pipe Dream (US)
• The General Strike - A Historical Portrait (1959)
• A Reasonable Doubt (1960) non-fiction
• The Thirties: a Dream Revolved (1960) revised 1975
• The Progress of a Crime (1960)
• Murder! Murder! (1961) stories
• The Killing of Francie Lake (1962) as The Plain Man (US)
• Buller’s Campaign (1963) military history
• The End of Solomon Grundy (1964)
• The Belting Inheritance (1965)
• England's Pride: The Story of the Gordon Relief Expedition (1965) military history
• Francis Quarles Investigates (1965) stories
• Crime and Detection: An Illustrated History from1840 (1966)
• Critical Occasions (1966) essays
• The Man Who Killed Himself (1967)
• The Man Whose Dreams Came True (1968)
• Essays & Biographies by A.J.A. Symons (1969) editor
• The Man Who Lost His Wife (1970)
• Between the Wars (1972) history
• Notes From Another Country (1972) stories
• The Players and the Game (1972)
• Bloody Murder- From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel: A History (1972) as Mortal Consequences (US)
• The Plot Against Roger Rider (1973)
• A Reflection on Auden (1973) broadsheet poem
• A Three - Pipe Problem (1975)
• The Angry 30s (1976) history
• How to Trap a Crook (1977) stories
• The Blackheath Poisonings (1978)
• Verdict of Thirteen: a Detection Club Anthology (1978)
• The Tell-Tale Heart: The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe (1978)
• Conan Doyle - Portrait of an Artist (1979)
• Edgar Allen Poe Selected Tales (1980) editor
• Sweet Adelaide (1980)
• Agatha Christie - the Art of Her Crimes (1981)
• Critical Observations: Diverse Essays (1981)
• Great Detectives - Seven Original Investigations (1981)
• The Detling Murders (1982) as The Detling Secret (US)
• The Tigers of Subtopia (1982) stories
• Crime and Detection Quiz (1983)
• The Name of Annabel Lee (1983)
• New Poetry 9, an Arts Council Anthology (1983) editor
• 1948 and 1984. The Second Orwell Memorial Lecture (1984)
• Classic Crime Omnibus (1984) editor, stories
• Dashiel Hammett (1985)
• The Criminal Comedy of the Contented Couple (1985) as A Criminal Comedy (US)
• Two Brothers. Fragments of a Correspondence (1985)
• Makers of the New- The Revolution in Literature, 1912-1939 (1987)
• Oscar Wilde: A problem in Biography (1988) Lurcy Lecture, Amherst College
• The Kentish Manor Murders (1988)
• Death's Darkest Face (1990)
• Somebody Else (1990) stories
• The Thirties & The Nineties (1990)
• Portraits Of The Missing: Imaginary Biographies (1991)
• Does Literature Exist? (1992) Lurcy Lecture, Amherst College
• Something Like a Love Affair (19920
• Criminal Practices -Symons on Crime Writing 60s to 90s (1994)
• Playing Happy Families (1994)
• The Man Who Hated Television (1995) stories also as Did Sherlock Holmes Met Hercule...?
• A Sort of Virtue: A Political Crime Novel (1996)
• Hell Gate

References

• Patricia Craig, editor (1992 Julian Symons At 80 - A Tribute
• Jack Walsdorf and Kathleen Symons, editors (1995/6) Julian Symons Remembered
• Bonnie Allen and John Walsdorf (1997) Julian Symons: A Bibliography