Judson Philips

Judson P. Philips (1903-1989), a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award winner, began his writing career in the pulp fiction magazines. He made his first professional fiction sale in 1924, while earning a journalism degree from Columbia University.

He became a frequent contributor to Detective Fiction Weekly, which featured his Park Avenue Hunt Club series. In 1939 he won the $10,000 Dodd Mead Mystery Contest, using the pen name Hugh Pentecost, for Cancelled in Red. This marked a turning point in his career, as he created a second body of work for slick magazines and paperbacks as Pentecost. He wrote under both names simultaneously, living between New York and Connecticut, producing more than 500 works.

Philips owned a newspaper, and wrote columns for other newspapers. He owned an equity summer stock theater, “The Sharon Playhouse,” where he wrote and produced plays. In the meantime, he wrote radio and film scripts for movies and television. Later he hosted a political and arts program in Connecticut’s “Northwest Corner,” broadcast out of Torrington.