Showell Styles


Frank Showell Styles was an English writer and mountaineer.

Life and career

Showell Styles was born in Four Oaks, Birmingham and educated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School in nearby Sutton Coldfield. His father Alfred Thomas Styles was also born in Four Oaks, in 1882. Known to his friends as 'Pip', Showell Styles' childhood was spent in the hills of North Wales where he became an avid mountaineer and explorer. During the Second World War, Styles joined the Royal Navy and was posted in the Mediterranean, but even there he walked and climbed as much as he could. As reported in his obituary by the daily post, in the early 1950s Showell Styles led several expeditions in the Himalayas and Arctic. He also climbed in the Pyrenees and Alps.
An aspiring writer, Styles already had articles published in Punch, before setting out to make his living as an author. His first novel, Traitor's Mountain, was a murder mystery set on and around Tryfan in Wales. He became a prolific writer with over 160 books published for children as well as adults. In addition to historic naval adventure fiction such as the Midshipman Quinn and Lieutenant Michael Fitton series set during the Napoleonic Wars, and non-fiction works on mountains and such as The Mountaineer's Weekend Book, he wrote detective fiction under the pseudonym of Glyn Carr, and humorous pieces as C.L. Inker.

Works

Children's booksFirst Up Everest, illustrated by Raymond Briggs, Marty's Mountain, illus. Malcolm Hargreaves Welsh Tales for Children, retold by Styles, illus. Bernadette Watts
Anthologies editedMen and Mountaineering: An Anthology of Writings by Climbers,

Fiction

Midshipman Septimus Quinn
  • Midshipman Quinn
  • Quinn of the Fury
  • Midshipman Quinn and Denise the Spy
  • Midshipman Quinn Wins Through
  • Quinn at Trafalgar
  • The Midshipman Quinn Collection
Lieutenant Michael Fitton Adventures
  • A Sword for Mr. Fitton
  • Mr. Fitton's Commission
  • The Baltic Convoy
  • Gun Brig Captain
  • A Ship for Mr. Fitton
  • Mr. Fitton's Prize
  • Mr. Fitton and the Black Legion
  • Mr. Fitton in Command
  • The 12-Gun Cutter
  • Lieutenant Fitton
  • Mr. Fitton at the Helm
  • The Martinique Mission 1999)
  • Mr. Fitton's Hurricane
Tiger Patrol
  • Tiger Patrol
  • The Tiger Patrol Wins Through
  • The Tiger Patrol at Sea
  • The Tiger Patrol Presses On
Wolf Cubs
  • Red for Adventure
  • Wolf Cub Island
  • The Sea Cub
  • Cubs of the Castle
  • Cubs on the Job
  • The Ladder of Snow
  • A Necklace of Glaciers
  • The Pass of Morning
Abercrombie Lewker
  • Traitor's Mountain
  • Kidnap Castle
  • Hammer Island
  • *Subsequent Lewker novels were written under the pseudonym Glyn Carr
  • Murder on the Matterhorn
  • Death on Milestone Buttress
  • The Youth Hostel Murders
  • The Corpse in the Crevasse
  • Death Under Snowdon
  • A Corpse at Camp Two
  • Murder of an Owl
  • The Ice Axe Murders
  • Swing Away Climber
  • Holiday With Murder
  • Death Finds a Foothold
  • Lewker in Norway
  • Death of a Weirdy
  • Lewker in Tyrol
  • Fat Man's Agony
Other novels
Sir Devil

Path to Glory

Dark Hazard

Land from the Sea

Mr. Nelson's Ladies

The Frigate Captain

His Was Fire

The Lost Glacier

The Sea Lord

Kami the Sherpa

Admiral's Fancy

Wolfe Commands You

Shadow Buttress

The Battle of Cotton: Revolution in Britain

Greencoats Against Napoleon

The Flying Ensign: Greencoats Against Napoleon

The Battle of Steam: Revolution in Britain

The Lost Pothole

The Sea Officer

Byrd of the 95th

Gentleman Johnny

Thunder Over Spain

H.M.S. Diamond Rock

The Camp in the Hills

Greenhorn's Cruise

Mr Fiddle

Number Two-Ninety

Confederate Raider

Mr Fiddle's Band

Indestructible Jones

Journey with a Secret ]

Sea Road to Camperdown

Journey with a Success

Jones' Private Navy

Case for Mister Fiddle

The Snowdon Rangers

Forbidden Frontiers

A Tent on Top

Vincey Joe at Quiberon

Admiral of England

Kiss for Captain Hardy

Centurion Comes Home

Quarterdeck Ladder

Seven Gun Broadside

Stella And The Fireships

The Malta Frigate

Mutiny in the Caribbean

The Lee Shore

H. M. S. Cracker

Nelson Made Me

Nelson's Midshipman

The Independent Cruise

Non-fiction

A Climber in Wales

Walks and Climbs in Malta

The Mountaineer's Week-End Book

Introduction to Mountaineering

Mountains of the Midnight Sun

The Moated Mountain

The Camper's and Tramper's Week-End Book

Introduction to Caravanning

Getting to Know Mountains

How Mountains Are Climbed

How Underground Britain Is Explored

Look At Mountains

Modern Mountaineering

Blue Remembered Hills

The Foundations of Climbing

Climbing

On Top of the World

The Arrow Book of Climbing

Rock and Rope

Mallory of Everest

The Climber's Bedside Book

First on the Summits

Welsh Walks and Legends

What to See in Beddgelert and How to See It

Snowdon Range: Snowdonia District Guide Books

Mountains of North Wales

Glyder Range: Snowdonia District Guide Books

Exploring Gwynedd from Porthmadog

Souvenir Guide: Chwarel Hên Llanfair, Old Llanfair Quarry, Slate Caverns

Backpacking in Alps and Pyrenees

Backpacking: A Comprehensive Guide

Backpacking in Wales

Welsh walks & legends, South Wales

Llanberis Area Guide

Walks in Gwynedd

Public Footpath Walks from the Cambrian Coast

Walks from the Festiniog Railway

Snowdonia National Park: National Parks Guide

Welsh Walks and Legends: North Wales

North Wales Walks and Legends
Short non-fiction
  • "Women are Climbing", Coventry Herald
  • "Personalities of the Crumb Board", SMT Magazine & Scottish Country Life
  • "The Battle of Camp Hill", Warwickshire Evening Despatch
  • "Hands off the Park", Birmingham Mail
  • "What's All the Fuss about?", Warwickshire Evening Despatch
  • "Cheapest Way of Seeing the World", ''Midland Daily Telegraph''