{{Short description|British writer (1908–1979)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}} {{Use British English|date=October 2015}} {{Infobox writer | name = Leo Ognall | image = Leo_Ognall.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|06|20}} | birth_place = Montreal, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|1979|04|12|1908|06|20}} | death_place = Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, U.K. | pseudonym = Hartley Howard<br>Harry Carmichael | occupation = Journalist, author | years_active = | genre = Crime novels | notable_works = ''Department K'' | education = | alma_mater = | children = 3, including Harry Ognall }} '''Leopold Horace Ognall''' (20 June 1908 – 12 April 1979),<ref name="death">''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007''</ref> known by the pen names '''Hartley Howard''' and '''Harry Carmichael''', was a British crime novelist.
==Biography== Ognall was born in Montreal, Canada, but grew up in Glasgow, Scotland.<ref name=LifeOfCrime/> His father served as provost of Rutherglen.<ref name=LifeOfCrime>{{cite book |last=Ognall |first=Sir Harry |date=2017 |title=A Life of Crime: The Memoirs of a High Court Judge |pages=2–3 |publisher=William Collins |isbn=978-0008267469 }}</ref> At age 19, the younger Ognall was working as a bus driver in Rutherglen.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-clydebank-press-overcrowded-omnibus/179028458/ |title=Overcrowded Omnibus |newspaper=The Clydebank Press |location=Clydebank, Strathclyde, Scotland |page=5 |date=July 15, 1927 |accessdate=August 16, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> He also worked as a journalist before starting his fiction career.{{cn|date=August 2025}} He lived in Leeds in England for many years; he was married there in 1932,<ref name=jewry/> and while he was recorded as living in Ulverston in Cumbria in 1939,<ref name=jewry/> he was again living in Leeds by 1964.<ref name=pilger/>
Ognall wrote over 90 novels, which were published between 1951 and 1979. The New York City-based private eye Glenn Bowman, who appeared in 38 books written under the pen name of Hartley Howard, was one of his most successful characters.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thrillingdetective.com/2020/07/26/glenn-bowman/ |title=Glenn Bowman |first1=Juri |last1=Nummelin |first2=Kevin Burton |last2=Smith |website=thrillingdetective.com |date=July 26, 2020 |accessdate=August 16, 2025}}</ref> Under the Harry Carmichael pen name, his primary series characters were John Piper, an insurance assessor, and Quinn, a crime reporter; the London-based duo appeared together in 32 books.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thrillingdetective.com/2023/04/05/john-piper-quinn/ |title=John Piper & Quinn |first=Kevin Burton |last=Smith |website=thrillingdetective.com |date=April 5, 2023 |accessdate=August 16, 2025}}</ref> Ognall created the pseudonym "Harry Carmichael" as an amalgam of the names of his immediate family: his son Harry, his wife Cecilia, his daughter Margaret, and his son Michael. Ognall's 1964 spy thriller ''Department K'' was adapted into the 1968 British film ''Assignment K''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-k-opens-citywide/179030571/ |title='K' Opens Citywide Showings |first=Charles |last=Champlin |authorlink=Charles Champlin |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=13 (Part V) |date=September 19, 1968 |accessdate=August 16, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> Some of his works were also adapted for radio.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-despatch-need-for-more-cash-brou/179030061/ |title=Need for More Cash Brought Out That Flair for Writing |first=Bill |last=Newton|newspaper=Evening Despatch |location=Darlington, Durham, England |page=3 |date=May 12, 1973 |accessdate=August 16, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
Ognall married Ceclia Sumroy (1909–1994) in 1932 in Leeds.<ref name=jewry>{{cite web |url=https://british-jewry.org.uk/leedsjewry/getperson.php?personID=I0044324&tree=1 |title=OGNALL Leopold Horace |website=british-jewry.org.uk |accessdate=August 16, 2025}}</ref> The couple had three children,<ref name=jewry/> including Sir Harry Ognall, a barrister and judge who was well known for his prosecution of Peter Sutcliffe, dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ognall |first=Sir Harry |date=2017 |title=A Life of Crime: The Memoirs of a High Court Judge |pages=2–3 |publisher=William Collins |isbn=978-0008267469 }}</ref>
Ognall died in 1979, aged 70, in Leeds.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-top-thriller-writer-dies/178851680/ |title=Top thriller writer dies |newspaper=Evening Star |location=Burnley, Lancashire, England |page=3 |date=April 16, 1979 |accessdate=August 13, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> His final book, ''The Sealed Envelope'', was published posthumously later that year.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-despatch-books-the-sealed-envel/179026296/ |title=Books: The Sealed Envelope |newspaper=Evening Despatch |location=Darlington, Durham, England |page=2 |date=August 9, 1979 |accessdate=August 16, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Bibliography== Source:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/harry-carmichael.htm |title=Harry Carmichael Bibliography {{!}} Hartley Howard Bibliography |website=classiccrimefiction.com |accessdate=August 13, 2025}}</ref>
===Hartley Howard works=== As Hartley Howard, Ognall authored the following novels (with year of publication): {{div col}} # ''The Last Appointment'' 1951 # ''The Last Deception'' 1951 # ''Death of Cecilia'' 1952 # ''The Last Vanity'' 1951 # ''Bowman Strikes Again'' 1953 # ''The Other Side of the Door'' 1953 # ''Bowman at a Venture'' 1954 # ''Bowman on Broadway'' 1954 # ''No Target for Bowman'' 1955 # ''Sleep for the Wicked'' 1955 # ''The Bowman Touch'' 1956 # ''A Hearse for Cinderella'' 1956 # ''Key to the Morgue'' 1957 # ''The Long Night'' 1957 # ''The Big Snatch'' 1958 # ''Sleep, My Pretty One'' 1958 # ''The Armitage Secret'' 1959 # ''Deadline'' 1959 # ''Extortion'' 1960 # ''Fall Guy'' 1960 # ''I'm No Hero'' 1961 # ''Time Bomb'' 1961 # ''Count-Down'' 1962 # ''Double Finesse'' 1962 # ''The Stretton Case'' 1963 # ''Department K'' (US title: ''Assignment K'') 1964 # ''Out of the Fire'' 1965 # ''Counterfeit'' 1966 # ''Portrait of a Beautiful Harlot'' 1966 # ''Routine Investigation'' 1967 # ''The Eye of the Hurricane'' 1968 # ''The Secret of Simon Cornell'' 1969 # ''Cry on My Shoulder'' 1970 # ''Room 37'' 1970 # ''Million Dollar Snapshot'' 1971 # ''Murder One'' 1971 # ''Epitaph for Joann''a 1972 # ''Nice Day for a Funeral'' 1972 # ''Highway to Murder'' 1973 # ''Dead Drunk'' 1974 # ''Treble Cross'' 1975 # ''Payoff'' 1976 # ''One-Way Ticket'' 1978 # ''The Sealed Envelope'' 1979 {{div col end}}
===Harry Carmichael works=== As Harry Carmichael, Ognall authored the following novels (with year of publication): {{div col}} # ''Death Leaves a Diary'' 1952 # ''The Vanishing Trick'' 1952 # ''Deadly Night-Cap'' 1953 # ''School for Murder'' 1953 # ''Why Kill Johnny?'' 1954 # ''Death Counts Three'' (US title: ''The Screaming Rabbit'') 1954 # ''Money for Murder'' 1955 # ''Noose for a Lady'' 1955 # ''The Dead of Night'' 1956 # ''Justice Enough'' 1956 # ''Emergency Exit'' 1957 # ''Put Out That Star'' (US title: ''Into Thin Air'') 1957 # ''James Knowland: Deceased'' 1958 # ''A Question of Time'' 1958 # ''...Or Be He Dead'' 1959 # ''Stranglehold'' (US title: ''Marked Man'') 1959 # ''Requiem for Charles'' (US title: ''The Late Unlamented'') 1960 # ''The Seeds of Hate'' 1960 # ''Alibi'' 1961 # ''Confession'' 1961 # ''The Link'' 1962 # ''Of Unsound Mind'' 1962 # ''Vendetta'' 1963 # ''Flashback''{{efn|''Flashback'' appears to be based on the 1961 disappearance of Joan Risch, per a 1964 newspaper interview with Ognall,<ref name=pilger>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-british-author-has-biza/178838975/ |title=British Author Has Bizarre Theory in Joan Risch Case |first=John |last=Pilger |authorlink=John Pilger |agency=Manchester Daily Mirror |newspaper=The Boston Globe |page=59 |date=March 1, 1964 |accessdate=August 13, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> and subsequent reviews of the book.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-guardian-criminal-records/178842955/ |title=Criminal Records |first=Francis |last=Iles |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |page=11 |date=January 15, 1965 |accessdate=August 13, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-observer-crime-ration/178843122/ |title=Crime Ration |first=Maurice |last=Richardson |newspaper=The Observer |location=London |page=27 |date=December 13, 1964 |accessdate=August 13, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>}} 1964 # ''Safe Secret'' 1964 # ''Post Mortem'' 1965 # ''Suicide Clause'' 1966 # ''The Condemned'' 1967 # ''Murder by Proxy'' 1967 # ''A Slightly Bitter Taste'' 1968 # ''Death Trap'' 1970 # ''Remote Control'' 1970 # ''Most Deadly Hate'' 1971 # ''The Quiet Woman'' 1971 # ''Naked to the Grave'' 1972 # ''Candles for the Dead'' 1973 # ''Too Late for Tears'' 1973 # ''The Motive'' 1974 # ''False Evidence'' 1976 # ''A Grave for Two'' 1977 # ''Life Cycle'' 1978 {{div col end}}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * [https://www.stuckinabook.com/2025/04/ Review of ''Death Leaves A Diary''] by Simon Thomas at stuckinabook.com * [https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/31252.Martin_Edwards/blog?page=54 Review of ''The Dead of the Night''] by Martin Edwards at Goodreads
==External links== * [https://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/Leeds/cemeteries/New%20Farnley%20Cemetery/Burial_NF_POD_598.htm Headstone image] via jewishgen.org
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ognall, Leo}} Category:1908 births Category:1979 deaths Category:Writers from Montreal Category:Writers from Leeds Category:British crime writers Category:20th-century British male writers Category:20th-century British novelists