Herbert Brean was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 journalist and crime fiction writer, best known for his recurring series characters William Deacon and Reynold Frame. He was a director and former executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America

Mystery Writers of America

Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....

, a group for which he also taught a class in mystery writing. Aside from his seven mystery crime novels, he also published non-fiction books and articles, and mystery magazine short stories. Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

 used one of Brean's many articles for Life Magazine, "A Case of Identity" (1953) as the basis for his film The Wrong Man

The Wrong Man

The Wrong Man is a 1956 film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film is based on a true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he did not commit...

. As a lifelong Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...

 fan he was a member of the Baker Street Irregulars

Baker Street Irregulars

The Baker Street Irregulars are any of several different groups, all named after the original, from various Sherlock Holmes stories in which they are a gang of young street children whom Holmes often employs to aid his cases.- Original :...

, and as such he wrote the introduction to at least one Holmes edition.

Novels

Year	Title	Publisher
1949	Wilders Walk Away	Heinemann
1950	The Darker the Night	Heinemann
1952	Hardly a Man is Now Alive (US) / Murder Now and Then (UK)	Heinemann
1954	The Clock Strikes Thirteen	Heinemann
1957	A Matter of Fact (US) / Collar for the Killer (UK)	Heinemann
1961	The Traces of Brillhart	Heinemann
1966	The Traces of Merrilee	Morrow