Hugh Cecil Asterley (10 May 1902 – 1973) was a British writer and colonial administrator, who wrote crime and mystery stories and novels, usually with a south-east Asian setting, as H. C. Asterley.
Early life
editAsterley was born in Souldrop, Bedfordshire.
Career
editAsterley was a civil servant, who spent much of his career in Singapore.
His first novel, Rowena Goes Too Far was published in 1931. A bestseller in the UK, it was banned in Australia due to customs belief that it “lacked sufficient claim to the literary to excuse the obscenity”.[1]
His 1961 novel, Escape to Berkshire, was a change in style, being a post-nuclear war survival novel about the destruction of, and escape from, London.
Publications
edit- Rowena Goes Too Far, London, Jarrolds, 1931
- A Tale of Two Murders, London, Jarrolds, 1932 (published as Mortmain in the USA)
- Land of Short Shadows, 1932/33
- Jungle Leech, 1935
- Escape to Berkshire, 1961, London, Pall Mall Press
References
edit- ^ Marita Bullock and Nicole Moore: Banned In Australia, A Bibliography