Tracy's novel Sylvia's Search was cover-featured on the April 1914 issue of Adventure

Louis Tracy (18 March 1863 - 13 August 1928) (born Patrick Joseph Treacy)[1] was a British journalist, and prolific writer of fiction. He used the pseudonyms Gordon Holmes and Robert Fraser, which were at times shared with the writer M. P. Shiel, with whom he collaborated until 1911.[2]

His fiction included mystery, adventure and romance.

Life

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He was born in Liverpool to a well-to-do middle-class family. At first he was educated at home and then at the French Seminary at Douai. Around 1884 he became a reporter for a local paper, The Northern Echo at Darlington, circulating in parts of Durham and North Yorkshire; later he worked for papers in Cardiff and Allahabad. During 1892–1894 he was closely associated with Arthur Harmsworth, in The Sun and The Evening News and Post.

During WWI he travelled to the USA and gave lectures on the war; after the war, he worked with the British Foreign Office and later for the Times newspaper.[3]

Published works

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Tracy’s works include;

  • The Final War: A Story of the Great Betrayed (1896) [4]
  • An American Emperor: The Story of the Fourth Empire of France (1897) [4]
  • The Lost Provinces: A Sequel to An American Emperor (1898) [4]
  • The Strange Disappearance of Lady Delia (1901) [4]
  • The Invaders: A Story of Britain Peril (1901) [4]
  • The Wooing of Esther Gray (1902) [4]
  • The Wings of the Morning (1903) [5]
  • The Sirdar's Sabre: Being for the most part the Adventures of Sirdar Bahadur Mohammed Khan (1905) [4]
  • The Wheel o’fortune (1907) [5]
  • Captain of the Kansas (1907) [5]
  • The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley (1915) [6]
  • The Postmaster’s Daughter (1916) [7]
  • The Bartlett Mystery (1919) [6]
  • Number Seventeen (1919) [5]
  • The King of Diamonds [7]
  • The Wings of the Morning [7]
  • A Mysterious Disappearance [5]
  • The Albert Gate Mystery [7]
  • One Wonderful Night: A Romance in New York [5]
  • His Unknown Wife [8]
  • The House ‘round the Corner [8]
  • The Albert Gate Mystery [7]

References

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  1. ^ "Tracy, Louis". Science Fiction Encyclopedia. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  2. ^ John D. Squires, "A Whiff of Collaboration: The Tracy-Shiel Connection" Archived 14 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ^ "Obituary". Papers Past. Otago Daily Times, Issue 20487, Page 7. 15 August 1928. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Author: Louis Tracy". Victorian Research. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Louis Tracy". Open Library. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Books by Tracy, Louis". Gutenberg. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Louis Tracy". Waterstones. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Louis Tracy". Good Reads. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
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