Robert Murray Graydon


Robert Murray Graydon was a British novelist who also wrote under the pen-names Robert Murray, Murray Hamilton, and Murray Roberts. He is best remembered for his Sexton Blake stories featuring the Criminals' Confederation, a global criminal organisation that featured prominently in the Blake magazines from 1916 to the 1930s.

Life and work

Robert Murray Graydon was born in Harrisburg, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, the son of author William Murray Graydon and Pearl Balsley. In 1896 the family moved to England and landed in Liverpool in March of that year. Details are a little vague in terms of their movements during their early stay in the UK. 1901 saw the family living in Horses Head, Upton. The 1911 Census reported that they had moved to the Fulton District in London.
Robert took to writing from a very young age. He wrote his first story in a school exercise book and had it accepted for publication in Chums in 1907 when he was seventeen. By 1913 he was an established story paper author, writing school serials for The Boys' Realm. In 1916 he published his first Sexton Blake tale, The Detective's Ordeal, in Union Jack #675. He married Victoria Honoria Septumus Neat in 1917 in Lambeth, London. They subsequently had four children, two boys and two girls. The family moved from London to Brighton in 1927. Robert Murray Graydon died of bowel cancer in 1937.

Sexton Blake

Like his father, Robert Murray Graydon wrote a large number of Sexton Blake tales. The elder Graydon was one of the most prolific Blake authors, and created Blake's wise and ferocious bloodhound Pedro and landlady Mrs. Bardell. It was Robert, however, who arguably became the more popular of the two, thanks to the creation of some of Sexton Blake's most beloved foes. These include master criminals Mr. Reece, Paul Cynos and Doctor Satira. But his greatest creation was the Criminals' Confederation, a global criminal organisation that formed the backbone of Blake's Golden age. There were seventy stories in the first run of tales from 1916 to 1926 that featured in the Union Jack and the Sexton Blake Library. The tales were so popular they were revised and reissued in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The Criminals' Confederation: Original Series

  1. The Hidden Hand
  2. A Case of Arson
  3. The Two Impersonators
  4. The Mysterious Mr. Reece
  5. The Vanished Man
  6. The Bogus Bat
  7. The Mystery of the Vlao Vase
  8. A Mid-Ocean Mystery
  9. The Masquerader
  10. The Lost Letter
  11. The Case of the Clubfooted Man
  12. The Vanished Police
  13. Suspended From Duty
  14. The Steel Claw
  15. The Silent Partner
  16. The Amazing Affair at Clanmere Mansions
  17. Dirk Dolland's Redemption
  18. The Clue of the Cuff Link
  19. The Case of the Black Feather
  20. The Missing Crooks
  21. Tracked by Wireless
  22. Held As Hostage
  23. The White Liner
  24. The Stolen Yacht
  25. Dirk Dolland's Ordeal
  26. The Diamond of Disaster
  27. Sinister Island
  28. The Man from the Sea
  29. The Trail in the Sand
  30. Mr. Smith of London
  31. The Informer
  32. The Hidden Headquarters
  33. The New President
  34. Dirk Dolland's Dilemma
  35. The Man Who Died
  36. The Shadow
  37. The Dog Detective
  38. A Bid For Billions
  39. The Extreme Penalty
  40. Crooked Evidence
  41. The Black Duchess
  42. The Fourth Witness
  43. Mr. Reece's Million
  44. Diamond Mad!
  45. The Confederation's Recruit
  46. The Diamond Clue
  47. The Hunchback of St. Madros
  48. The Return of Mr. Reece
  49. The Spider's Web
  50. The Key-Man of the Confederation
  51. The Rival Presidents
  52. Reece on the Run!
  53. The Mandarin's Millions !
  54. Found — and Lost!
  55. Reece's Republic
  56. Condemned to the Mines
  57. Yellow Vengeance
  58. Into the Unknown
  59. The Yellow City
  60. Buried Alive!
  61. Homeward Bound
  62. Landed at Last!
  63. Gone to Earth
  64. Reece's Hold-Up
  65. North of 70
  66. Reece's Revenge
  67. The Marriage of Jason Reece
  68. Dirk Dolland's Crime
  69. The Great Round-Up!

    Captain Justice

Captain Justice was the hero of a series of adventures published in Modern Boy, a weekly magazine published by Amalgamated Press throughout the 1930s. Throughout his career the Captain battled robots, giant insects, and runaway planets. Many of the adventures were republished as books in the Boys' Friend Library imprint of Amalgamated Press.

The Captain Justice Series

  1. The Mystery Planet, 1932
  2. The Earthquake Maker, 1933
  3. The Secret Kingdom, 1933
  4. The Rocketeers, 1933
  5. The World in Darkness, 1934
  6. The Weed Men, 1934
  7. The Raiders of Robot City, 1935
  8. The Ocean Robot, 1936
  9. The Rival Robots, 1936
  10. Captain Justice in the Land of Monsters 1936-1937
  11. The Gold Raiders, 1937
  12. The Flying Globes, 1938
  13. The Outlaw Raiders, 1938
  14. The City of Secrets, 1939

    New Collections

  • Sexton Blake: Star of Union Jack and Detective Weekly
  • Sexton Blake Wins
  • The Sexton Blake Casebook
  • Sexton Blake, Detective
  • Sexton Blake: Friends and Allies
  • Sexton Blake: The Master Criminals
  • Sexton Blake: The Complete Dr. Satira, Volume 1
  • Sexton Blake: The Complete Dr. Satira, Volume 2
Sexton Blake: The Criminals’ Confederation Series
  1. Sexton Blake: The Bat Files
  2. Sexton Blake: The Bat Files #2
  3. Sexton Blake: The Bat Files #3
  4. Sexton Blake: The Bat Files #4
  5. Sexton Blake: Confederation Rising
  6. Sexton Blake: The Sinister Island Saga
  7. Sexton Blake: Yvonne Joins the Fight
  8. Sexton Blake: Beware the Shadow
  9. Sexton Blake: Plots and Intrigues
  10. Sexton Blake: Reversals of Fortune
  11. Sexton Blake: The Rival Presidents
  12. Sexton Blake: Reece's Republic
  13. Sexton Blake: Twists in the Trail
  14. Sexton Blake: Final Curtain