Clouston subtitled this book "Being a bald yet veracious chronicle containing some further particulars of two gentlemen whose previous careers were touched upon in a tome entitled The Lunatic at Large." In some respects, that sums the book up well -- but you'd have to read it well to see how it catches the way he tells a story. Sigh. Oh well. clouston had a wit, and he had an interesting career. Two of his books, His First Offense and The Spy in Black, were made into major motion pictures by directors Marcel Carne and Michael Powell, respectively. Clouston was born in Cumberland, England; though his family came from Orkney and he spent most of his life there. His books include Vanrad the Viking (1898); The Lunatic at Large (1899); The Duke (1900); The Adventures of M. D'Haricot (1902); Our Lady's Inn (1903); Garmiscath (1904); Count Bunker (1906); and A County Family (1908).

Author Biography

Joseph Storer Clouston (1870 - 1944) was a Scottish author and historian. Soon after embarking on a career as a writer, he published one of his most popular novels, The Lunatic at Large. He was also a historian, author of a great history of Orkney, a founding member and second president of the Orkney Antiquarian Society and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. His The Spy in Black was made into a successful film in the late 1930s. His First Offence was also filmed in France as Drole de drame (directed by Marcel Carne, 1937).