Alan Bradley

Alan Bradley is the Canadian author of the Flavia de Luce mystery series. He has won several awards for his writing, including the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger and the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Alan Bradley was born in Toronto in 1938 and worked as an electronic engineer and a university professor before becoming a full-time writer.

Bradley worked at numerous radio and television stations in Ontario, and at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, before becoming Director of Television Engineering in the media center at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where he remained for 25 years before taking early retirement to write in 1994.

Alan Bradley debuted with Ms. Holmes of Baker Street, a collection of short stories edited by William A.S. Sarjeant. This work put forth the theory that the Great Detective was a woman and was greeted upon publication with what has been described as "a firestorm of controversy."

The release of Ms. Holmes resulted in national media coverage, with the authors embarking upon an extensive series of interviews, radio and TV appearances, and a public debate at Toronto's Harbourfront.

Bradley also was a founding member of The Casebook of Saskatoon, a society dedicated to Sherlock Holmes and Sherlockian writings.

His first novel, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009), introduced the character of Flavia de Luce, an 11-year-old amateur detective who investigates crimes in the English countryside in the 1950s. The book was an instant success and was followed by several more in the series.

His children's stories were published in The Canadian Children's Annual, and his short story, Meet Miss Mullen, was the first recipient of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild Award for Children's Literature.

Alan Bradley lives in Malta with his wife, Shirley.