Elisabeth Sanxay Holding(1889-1955)
- Writer
Born and brought up in Brooklyn, New York, Elisabeth Sanxay attended
Miss Whitcombe's and other schools for young ladies before marrying
British diplomat George E. Holding in 1913. The couple had two
daughters and traveled widely in South America and the Caribbean before
living in Bermuda for a number of years, where he was a government
official. After her husband's retirement, the couple lived in New York
City, where she died in 1955. Elisabeth Sanxay Holding wrote romantic
novels during the 1920s, but, after the stock market crash in 1929, she
turned to the more lucrative genre of the detective novel. From 1929
through 1954, she wrote eighteen detective novels, which sold well and
earned her significant praise for her style and character development.
Her series character for these novels was Lieutenant Levy. She also
wrote numerous short stories for popular magazines of the day.
Elisabeth was much admired during her day. Raymond Chandler, one of the
top writers of detective fiction during its golden age of 1920 - 1940,
said of her that she was "the top suspense writer of them all."
Literary critic Anthony Boucher wrote: "For subtlety, realistic
conviction, incredible economy, she's in a class by herself." . Her
novel "The Blank Wall" (1947) was so popular in its day that it was
made into a movie titled "The Reckless Moment" in 1949. In 2001 it was
made into the movie "The Deep End" starring Tilda Swinson. A number of
her books have also been brought back into reprint by Stark House Press
and made available to a new group of readers. Her brother-in-law was
Thomas Holding the stage and silent movie actor.