American novelist and playwright
John was the son of Patrick McIntyre (1844-1871) and Sarah Walker (1851-1885). According to wikipedia, he grew up in the Northern Liberties district of Philadelphia, although ward 17 would seem to be Kensington. He attended St. Michael's Parochial School and later Harrison Grammar School. He left school early and was working full-time by the age of eleven. Patrick was a noted mystery and crime novelist. He never married.
He worked as a free-lance journalist for Philadelphia newspapers, including the Philadelphia Press. He eventually began writing plays for the South Street Standard Theatre. He started writing his first novel, The Ragged edge, in 1898. It was a political drama set in the wards along the Schuylkill River and Philadelphia waterfront. The only copy of his manuscript was stolen and it took him nearly a year to rewrite the book from memory. Published by Irish-American muckraking publisher S.S.McClure in 1902, it is now considered "an early example of the urban Irish-American political novel".
John's most famous literary characters were Ashton-Kirk, a scientific-minded criminologist (featured in several books) and a freelance detective named Jerry Mooney (serialized in in newspaper). Maxwell Perkins (the New York editor who discovered Hemingway and Fitzgerald) took an interest in McIntyre and helped edit his novel entitled Slag, about Philadelphia gangsters. Scribners published Slag in in 1926, but unfortunately it proved too far ahead of popular interest in crime novels.
His most celebrated novel was Steps Going Down in 1936, which was selected as the United States entry in the All-Nations Prize Novel Competition. It did not win first place in the competition, but John was awarded $4,000 in cash and gained prominent notice from most major literary magazines. The sponsor Warner Brothers considered the book for a motion picture. The story line was about two men trying to evade the police and others as they moved through cheap lodgings in the poorer neighborhoods around Philadelphia, while encountering a prostitutes, addicts, and other characters.
John's efforts as a serious novelist were limited and short-lived, and he relied on writing short stories, detective mysteries and juvenile fiction to make a living. He tried to build upon this success with his 1937 novel, Ferment, about union corruption, and Signing Off, his 1938 novel about Italian-American gangsters. He continued writing cheap fiction for newspapers and magazines to earn a living. Throughout the 1940's he placed fewer and fewer pieces. Sadly, he was forced to sell off his collection of dime novels and rely upon the charity of his friends in his final years. John died of cancer in The Presbyterian Hospital of Philadelphia at the age of 79 years.
Partial listing of his works:
Mystery novels-
In The Dead of Night, 1908
Ashton-Kirk Criminologist, 1918
Ashton-Kirk Investigator, 1910
Ashton-Kirk Secret Agent, 1912
Ashton-Kirk Special Detective, 1914
The Museum Murder, 1929
Mooney Moves Around, under psedonym Kerry O'Neil) 1939
Death at Dakar, (under Kerry O’Neil) 1942
Ninth Floor: Middle City Tower. A Jerry Mooney Story. (under Kerry O’Neil) 1943
Death Strikes at Heron House. A Jerry Mooney Story. (under Kerry O’Neil) 1944
Popular novels-
The Ragged Edge: A tale of Ward Life & Politics, 1902
With Fighting Jack Barry, 1907
The Street Singer, 1908
Blowing Weather, 1923
Young Man's Fancy: An Easter Fantasy, 1925
Shot Towers, 1926.
Slag, 1927.
Stained Sails, 1928
Drums in the Dawn. , 1932
Steps Going Down. , 1936
Ferment. 1937
Signing Off. New York, 1938
John was the son of Patrick McIntyre (1844-1871) and Sarah Walker (1851-1885). According to wikipedia, he grew up in the Northern Liberties district of Philadelphia, although ward 17 would seem to be Kensington. He attended St. Michael's Parochial School and later Harrison Grammar School. He left school early and was working full-time by the age of eleven. Patrick was a noted mystery and crime novelist. He never married.
He worked as a free-lance journalist for Philadelphia newspapers, including the Philadelphia Press. He eventually began writing plays for the South Street Standard Theatre. He started writing his first novel, The Ragged edge, in 1898. It was a political drama set in the wards along the Schuylkill River and Philadelphia waterfront. The only copy of his manuscript was stolen and it took him nearly a year to rewrite the book from memory. Published by Irish-American muckraking publisher S.S.McClure in 1902, it is now considered "an early example of the urban Irish-American political novel".
John's most famous literary characters were Ashton-Kirk, a scientific-minded criminologist (featured in several books) and a freelance detective named Jerry Mooney (serialized in in newspaper). Maxwell Perkins (the New York editor who discovered Hemingway and Fitzgerald) took an interest in McIntyre and helped edit his novel entitled Slag, about Philadelphia gangsters. Scribners published Slag in in 1926, but unfortunately it proved too far ahead of popular interest in crime novels.
His most celebrated novel was Steps Going Down in 1936, which was selected as the United States entry in the All-Nations Prize Novel Competition. It did not win first place in the competition, but John was awarded $4,000 in cash and gained prominent notice from most major literary magazines. The sponsor Warner Brothers considered the book for a motion picture. The story line was about two men trying to evade the police and others as they moved through cheap lodgings in the poorer neighborhoods around Philadelphia, while encountering a prostitutes, addicts, and other characters.
John's efforts as a serious novelist were limited and short-lived, and he relied on writing short stories, detective mysteries and juvenile fiction to make a living. He tried to build upon this success with his 1937 novel, Ferment, about union corruption, and Signing Off, his 1938 novel about Italian-American gangsters. He continued writing cheap fiction for newspapers and magazines to earn a living. Throughout the 1940's he placed fewer and fewer pieces. Sadly, he was forced to sell off his collection of dime novels and rely upon the charity of his friends in his final years. John died of cancer in The Presbyterian Hospital of Philadelphia at the age of 79 years.
Partial listing of his works:
Mystery novels-
In The Dead of Night, 1908
Ashton-Kirk Criminologist, 1918
Ashton-Kirk Investigator, 1910
Ashton-Kirk Secret Agent, 1912
Ashton-Kirk Special Detective, 1914
The Museum Murder, 1929
Mooney Moves Around, under psedonym Kerry O'Neil) 1939
Death at Dakar, (under Kerry O’Neil) 1942
Ninth Floor: Middle City Tower. A Jerry Mooney Story. (under Kerry O’Neil) 1943
Death Strikes at Heron House. A Jerry Mooney Story. (under Kerry O’Neil) 1944
Popular novels-
The Ragged Edge: A tale of Ward Life & Politics, 1902
With Fighting Jack Barry, 1907
The Street Singer, 1908
Blowing Weather, 1923
Young Man's Fancy: An Easter Fantasy, 1925
Shot Towers, 1926.
Slag, 1927.
Stained Sails, 1928
Drums in the Dawn. , 1932
Steps Going Down. , 1936
Ferment. 1937
Signing Off. New York, 1938
American novelist and playwright
John was the son of Patrick McIntyre (1844-1871) and Sarah Walker (1851-1885). According to wikipedia, he grew up in the Northern Liberties district of Philadelphia, although ward 17 would seem to be Kensington. He attended St. Michael's Parochial School and later Harrison Grammar School. He left school early and was working full-time by the age of eleven. Patrick was a noted mystery and crime novelist. He never married.
He worked as a free-lance journalist for Philadelphia newspapers, including the Philadelphia Press. He eventually began writing plays for the South Street Standard Theatre. He started writing his first novel, The Ragged edge, in 1898. It was a political drama set in the wards along the Schuylkill River and Philadelphia waterfront. The only copy of his manuscript was stolen and it took him nearly a year to rewrite the book from memory. Published by Irish-American muckraking publisher S.S.McClure in 1902, it is now considered "an early example of the urban Irish-American political novel".
John's most famous literary characters were Ashton-Kirk, a scientific-minded criminologist (featured in several books) and a freelance detective named Jerry Mooney (serialized in in newspaper). Maxwell Perkins (the New York editor who discovered Hemingway and Fitzgerald) took an interest in McIntyre and helped edit his novel entitled Slag, about Philadelphia gangsters. Scribners published Slag in in 1926, but unfortunately it proved too far ahead of popular interest in crime novels.
His most celebrated novel was Steps Going Down in 1936, which was selected as the United States entry in the All-Nations Prize Novel Competition. It did not win first place in the competition, but John was awarded $4,000 in cash and gained prominent notice from most major literary magazines. The sponsor Warner Brothers considered the book for a motion picture. The story line was about two men trying to evade the police and others as they moved through cheap lodgings in the poorer neighborhoods around Philadelphia, while encountering a prostitutes, addicts, and other characters.
John's efforts as a serious novelist were limited and short-lived, and he relied on writing short stories, detective mysteries and juvenile fiction to make a living. He tried to build upon this success with his 1937 novel, Ferment, about union corruption, and Signing Off, his 1938 novel about Italian-American gangsters. He continued writing cheap fiction for newspapers and magazines to earn a living. Throughout the 1940's he placed fewer and fewer pieces. Sadly, he was forced to sell off his collection of dime novels and rely upon the charity of his friends in his final years. John died of cancer in The Presbyterian Hospital of Philadelphia at the age of 79 years.
Partial listing of his works:
Mystery novels-
In The Dead of Night, 1908
Ashton-Kirk Criminologist, 1918
Ashton-Kirk Investigator, 1910
Ashton-Kirk Secret Agent, 1912
Ashton-Kirk Special Detective, 1914
The Museum Murder, 1929
Mooney Moves Around, under psedonym Kerry O'Neil) 1939
Death at Dakar, (under Kerry O’Neil) 1942
Ninth Floor: Middle City Tower. A Jerry Mooney Story. (under Kerry O’Neil) 1943
Death Strikes at Heron House. A Jerry Mooney Story. (under Kerry O’Neil) 1944
Popular novels-
The Ragged Edge: A tale of Ward Life & Politics, 1902
With Fighting Jack Barry, 1907
The Street Singer, 1908
Blowing Weather, 1923
Young Man's Fancy: An Easter Fantasy, 1925
Shot Towers, 1926.
Slag, 1927.
Stained Sails, 1928
Drums in the Dawn. , 1932
Steps Going Down. , 1936
Ferment. 1937
Signing Off. New York, 1938
John was the son of Patrick McIntyre (1844-1871) and Sarah Walker (1851-1885). According to wikipedia, he grew up in the Northern Liberties district of Philadelphia, although ward 17 would seem to be Kensington. He attended St. Michael's Parochial School and later Harrison Grammar School. He left school early and was working full-time by the age of eleven. Patrick was a noted mystery and crime novelist. He never married.
He worked as a free-lance journalist for Philadelphia newspapers, including the Philadelphia Press. He eventually began writing plays for the South Street Standard Theatre. He started writing his first novel, The Ragged edge, in 1898. It was a political drama set in the wards along the Schuylkill River and Philadelphia waterfront. The only copy of his manuscript was stolen and it took him nearly a year to rewrite the book from memory. Published by Irish-American muckraking publisher S.S.McClure in 1902, it is now considered "an early example of the urban Irish-American political novel".
John's most famous literary characters were Ashton-Kirk, a scientific-minded criminologist (featured in several books) and a freelance detective named Jerry Mooney (serialized in in newspaper). Maxwell Perkins (the New York editor who discovered Hemingway and Fitzgerald) took an interest in McIntyre and helped edit his novel entitled Slag, about Philadelphia gangsters. Scribners published Slag in in 1926, but unfortunately it proved too far ahead of popular interest in crime novels.
His most celebrated novel was Steps Going Down in 1936, which was selected as the United States entry in the All-Nations Prize Novel Competition. It did not win first place in the competition, but John was awarded $4,000 in cash and gained prominent notice from most major literary magazines. The sponsor Warner Brothers considered the book for a motion picture. The story line was about two men trying to evade the police and others as they moved through cheap lodgings in the poorer neighborhoods around Philadelphia, while encountering a prostitutes, addicts, and other characters.
John's efforts as a serious novelist were limited and short-lived, and he relied on writing short stories, detective mysteries and juvenile fiction to make a living. He tried to build upon this success with his 1937 novel, Ferment, about union corruption, and Signing Off, his 1938 novel about Italian-American gangsters. He continued writing cheap fiction for newspapers and magazines to earn a living. Throughout the 1940's he placed fewer and fewer pieces. Sadly, he was forced to sell off his collection of dime novels and rely upon the charity of his friends in his final years. John died of cancer in The Presbyterian Hospital of Philadelphia at the age of 79 years.
Partial listing of his works:
Mystery novels-
In The Dead of Night, 1908
Ashton-Kirk Criminologist, 1918
Ashton-Kirk Investigator, 1910
Ashton-Kirk Secret Agent, 1912
Ashton-Kirk Special Detective, 1914
The Museum Murder, 1929
Mooney Moves Around, under psedonym Kerry O'Neil) 1939
Death at Dakar, (under Kerry O’Neil) 1942
Ninth Floor: Middle City Tower. A Jerry Mooney Story. (under Kerry O’Neil) 1943
Death Strikes at Heron House. A Jerry Mooney Story. (under Kerry O’Neil) 1944
Popular novels-
The Ragged Edge: A tale of Ward Life & Politics, 1902
With Fighting Jack Barry, 1907
The Street Singer, 1908
Blowing Weather, 1923
Young Man's Fancy: An Easter Fantasy, 1925
Shot Towers, 1926.
Slag, 1927.
Stained Sails, 1928
Drums in the Dawn. , 1932
Steps Going Down. , 1936
Ferment. 1937
Signing Off. New York, 1938
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