Innes, Brian 1928–

(Neil Powell)

PERSONAL: Born May 4, 1928, in London, England; son of Stanley George (a civil servant) and Laura Innes; married Felicity Wilson, October 4, 1956 (divorced); children: Simon Alexander. Education: King's College, London, B.Sc., 1949; also attended Chelsea School of Art, Central School of Arts and Crafts, and London School of Printing.

ADDRESSES: Home—74 Woodland Rise, London N10, England.

CAREER: Writer and editor. Paul Hamlyn Ltd. (publishers), London, England, art director, 1960–62; Animated Graphic and Publicity Designers, London, director, 1963–65; Immediate Books (book production company), London, proprietor, 1965–. Production consultant, Bancroft & Co., Ltd.; design consultant, BPC Publishing Ltd. Associate member, Institute of Printing; member, Institute of Journalists.

MEMBER: Society of Authors, Authors' Club, Society of Industrial Artists and Designers, National Union of Journalists.

WRITINGS:

The Book of Pirates, Bancroft & Co. (London, England), 1966.

The Book of Spies: 4000 Years of Cloak and Dagger, Bancroft & Co. (London, England), 1967, Grosset & Dunlap (New York, NY), 1969.

The Book of Revolutions, Bancroft & Co. (London, England), 1967.

The Book of Outlaws, Bancroft & Co. (London, England), 1968.

My Best Book of Flight, Purnell (London, England), 1970.

The Saga of the Railways, Purnell (London, England), 1973.

Horoscopes: How to Draw and Interpret Them, Orbis Books (London, England), 1976, Arco (New York, NY), 1978.

(Editor) Rococo to Romanticism: Art and Architecture 1700–1850, Garland Publishing (New York, NY), 1976.

The Tarot: How to Use and Interpret the Cards, Orbis Books (London, England), 1977, Arco (New York, NY), 1978.

(Editor, with Ian Ward) World of Automobiles: All Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Motor Car, twenty-two volumes, Purnell (London, England), 1977.

(Under pseudonym Neil Powell) The Supernatural: Alchemy, the Ancient Science, Aldus Books (London, England), 1977, enlarged edition (with Stuart Holroyd) published as Mysteries of Magic, 1979.

(Under pseudonym Neil Powell) The Book of Change: How to Understand and Use the I Ching, Orbis Books (London, England), 1980.

The Red Baron Lives!, New English Library (London, England), 1981.

The Book of the Havana Cigar, Beaufort Book Co., 1983.

(Editor and compiler, with others) Man, Myth & Magic: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology, Religion, and the Unknown, M. Cavendish (New York, NY), 1997.

The History of Torture, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Alien Visitors and Abductions, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

The Bermuda Triangle, Raintree-Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Amazing Predictions, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

The Cosmic Joker, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Ghosts of Flight 401, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Death and the Afterlife, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Giant Humanlike Beasts, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Millennium Prophecies, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Mysteries of the Ancients, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

The Mysteries of UFOs, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Mysterious Healing, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Native American Monuments, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Powers of the Mind, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Water Monsters, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

Where Was Atlantis?, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 1999.

The Book of Dreams: How to Interpret Your Dreams and Harness Their Power, Smithmark Publishers (New York, NY), 2000.

Bodies of Evidence, Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, NY), 2000.

Myths of Ancient Rome, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 2001.

United Kingdom, Raintree Steck-Vaughn (Austin, TX), 2002.

The History and Methods of Torture, Mason Crest Publishers (Broomall, PA), 2003.

Profile of a Criminal Mind: How Psychological Profiling Helps Solve True Crimes, Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, NY), 2003.

Serial Murders, Mason Crest Publishers (Broomall, PA), 2003.

Forensic Science, Mason Crest Publishers (Broomall, PA), 2003.

International Terrorism, Mason Crest Publishers (Broomall, PA), 2003.

Major Unsolved Crimes, Mason Crest Publishers (Broomall, PA), 2003.

The Search for Forensic Evidence, Gareth Stevens Publishing (Milwaukee, WI), 2005.

Fakes & Forgeries: The True Crime Stories of History's Greatest Deceptions: The Criminals, the Scams, and the Victims, Reader's Digest (Pleasantville, NY), 2005.

Body in Question: Exploring the Cutting Edge in Forensic Science, Sterling Creations, 2005.

Contributor to books, including Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1964, American Destiny and On Four Wheels. Contributor to periodicals, including the London Guardian and Scotsman. Co-editor, "Facts of Print" series, Vista Books, 1958. Chemical Age, assistant editor, 1953–55; British Printer, assistant editor, 1955–59, associate editor, 1959–60.

SIDELIGHTS: British author and editor Brian Innes is a writer and publishing professional whose career began in the 1960s. Many of Innes's works deal with subjects that could be considered sensational or fanciful, including UFOs, the supernatural, and true crime. However, as Lynn Evarts observed in a School Library Journal review of Major Unsolved Crimes, the subject matter of Innes's books tends to "appeal to reluctant readers," and could serve as a springboard to encourage young readers to sample more subjects and read more widely.

In Myths of Ancient Rome, Innes explores ten myths from the time of the ancient Romans. In addition to the retellings of the primary myth, such as that of the Roman god Bacchus, secondary essays on associated topics cover real-life historical aspects of Roman society and culture, such as the Roman approach to food and drink in ancient times. The essays are accompanied by maps, illustrations, and photographs of ruins and ancient artifacts. School Library Journal reviewer Ginny Gustin commented that Myths of Ancient Rome, and other books in the "Mythic World Series" of which it is a part, are "unique in [their] inclusion of information about each ancient culture between the retellings."

Fakes & Forgeries: The True Crime Stories of History's Greatest Deceptions: The Criminals, the Scams, and the Victims contains a collection of case studies and background information covering famous frauds, fakes, and forgeries throughout history. Innes "captivates readers with tales of intrigue and deception that span the centuries," remarked Lynn Nutwell in the School Library Journal. He presents stories of well-known cases in addition to accounts of fakes that are more obscure. For example, Innes tells about the 1991 discovery of a diary purportedly written by Jack the Ripper. He relates the case of a young woman rescued from the Berlin Canal who claimed to be the daughter of Tsar Nicholas III, Anastasia, who was thought murdered years earlier during the Russian Revolution, along with the rest of her family. Innes also tells of forgeries that many people desperately wanted to believe were real, including the 1908 case of Piltdown Man, an ancient hominid fossil thought to represent a major milestone in human evolution. The voluminous Hitler diaries were discovered to have been created by a self-serving dealer in Nazi relics. Another possible forgery is the Vinland Map, which is still unauthenticated but could prove that Europeans knew of the existence of North America a half-century before Columbus arrived. Innes also discusses techniques for creating forgeries, including methods for duplicating artists' brush strokes, creating aged paper, and more. He also looks at simple counterfeiting of currency and how desktop publishing has made fake currency so much easier to make and much more difficult to detect. Library Journal reviewer Gena Moore commented that "the book is lively and engaging and will satisfy anyone who enjoys solving a good true-crime story."

Body in Question: Exploring the Cutting Edge in Forensic Science is a "nonscholarly but well-written work" that will appeal to readers interested in careers in forensics and related areas of criminal justice, noted Library Journal reviewer Judith Matthews. Innes provides a short historical overview of forensics, then expounds on the phases of forensic investigation, from victim identification to fieldwork to testimony in court. A number of case studies demonstrate ways in which forensic science was used to solve a perplexing crime, and short biographical essays highlight important persons in the history and development of forensics. Though some of the book's contents could be considered gory or disturbing to some readers, Matthews concluded that "fans of the television show CSI will eat it up."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 1999, Ilene Cooper, review of The Bermuda Triangle, p. 1692.

Library Journal, April 1, 2005, Judith Matthews, review of Body in Question: Exploring the Cutting Edge in Forensic Science, p. 121; October 15, 2005, Gena Moore, review of Fakes and Forgeries: The True Crime Stories of History's Greatest Deceptions: The Criminals, the Scams, and the Victims, p. 70.

School Library Journal, December, 2001, Ginny Gustin, review of Myths of Ancient Rome, p. 157, and Donna L. Scanlon, review of United Kingdom, p. 160; October, 2003, Lynn Evarts, review of Major Unsolved Crimes, p. 183; December, 2005, Lynn Nutwell, review of Fakes and Forgeries, p. 182.