John Meade Falkner combined his successful business career in the munitions manufacturing industry with a keen leisure interest in antiquarian subjects. The significant literary works inspired by this fascination included several well researched county guides together with a small but outstanding body of fictional work.
While Falkner's tales may vary in their subject matter they are all authentic in their historical detail and carefully developed atmosphere of mystery. The author's most famous novel is undoubtedly Moonfleet (1898), a classic smuggling adventure which has been much reprinted and adapted on several occasions for screen and radio. The Nebuly Coat (1903) contains several atmospheric scenes and may be considered one of the finest antiquarian mysteries. The Stradivarius (1895) represents Falkner's most important contribution to ghost fiction. An imaginative plot, a finely paced atmosphere of growing menace and a wealth of background detail combine to make this short novel one of the nineteenth century's classic tales of the macabre.
-- from Shadows in the Attic: A Guide to British Supernatural Fiction 1820-1950, Neil Wilson (2000)
