Joseph Smith Fletcher was a British journalist and author. He wrote more than 230 books on a wide variety of subjects, both fiction and non-fiction. He was one of the leading writers of detective fiction in the "Golden Age." His first books published were of poetry. He then moved on to write numerous works of historical fiction and history, many dealing with Yorkshire, which led to his selection as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. In 1914 he wrote his first detective novel and went on to write more than a hundred, many featuring the private investigator Ronald Camberwell.