Mitchell, Gladys

English author and teacher, regarded as a big name in British crime fiction during the 1930s and 1940s. After that, her (and other writers’) whodunnits lost in popularity, although her books continued to be published up until 1984. In the present century, she has to some extent received new attention. Gladys Mitchell was born in Cowley, Oxfordshire, and while she was little the family moved several times within the county. In 1909 they settled in Middlesex, and she was taught at Rothschild School in Brentford and Green School in Isleworth. In 1919–21 she attended Goldsmiths College and University College of London, acquiring a teaching qualification.