J. I. M. Stewart

John Innes Mackintosh Stewart (1906-1994) was a Scottish novelist and academic. He is equally well-known for the works of literary criticism and "straight" novels published under his real name and for the whodunnits published under the pseudonym of Michael Innes. Many devotees of the Innes books were unaware of his other "identity", and vice versa.

Stewart was born in Edinburgh and educated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he studied English literature. He went on to study psychoanalysis in Vienna, before taking up an academic post in Australia. He had already begun writing mystery novels with a literary slant when he returned to the UK at the end of World War II. In 1949 he became a Fellow of Christ Church, Oxford. By the time of his retirement in 1973, he held a professorship within the university. His quintet of novels collectively titled A Staircase in Surrey was published between 1974 and 1978, the individual titles being:

• The Gaudy
• Young Patullo
• Memorial Service
• The Madonna of the Astrolabe
• Full Term

He also wrote studies of Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad, and Thomas Hardy. His last publication was Myself and Michael Innes (1987).