Selected Stories of Austin Philips (1875-1947)

Austin Philips was a British author and the son of a postmaster, who not only became a postmaster himself, but also served in an investigative branch of the Post Office which "co-operated with the British Intelligence Services in checking suspect mail."[Ashley, 2018] These experiences made their way into much of his writing, which included Post Office crime novels, Post Office-related short stories and even Post Office poems. He wrote a variety of other short fiction, novels, plays, and poetry as well.

This selection will focus on Philips' Post Office detective stories, ghost stories, and articles, as well as collecting some non-Post Office crime tales.

[Ashley, 2018] Ashley, Mike (editor). Glimpses of the Unknown: Lost Ghost Stories, British Public Library Tales of the Weird series (2018), p.40.

Stories and Articles

Crime in the Post Office: One of Philips' earliest articles, published in The Strand, October 1907. A non-fiction account of post office-related crime---including a still-unsolved murder---and the department that investigates those crimes.

A Dead Letter: A moaning ghost visits the Post Office on Christmas Eve. From The Strand, January 1909.

The Telegram: A naive young telegraph operator finds herself at a fork in the road. From The Strand, July 1909.

The Missing Word: In the midst of a midnight storm, an old telegraph operator tells his colleagues about the night he "heard" his fellow telegraphist's murder. From Pall Mall, November 1907.

The Booby Trap: A postmistress contends with a person out of her past; one who knows her dark secret. From Nash's Magazine, November 1909.

The Murder at Silchester Post Office: Philips' fictional reconstruction of---and solution to---the still-unsolved real-life murder of George Fell at the Birkenhead Post Office in 1900.