Emery Bonett was the pen name of Felicity Winifred Carter, an English author and playwright. Her books were made into films. She wrote several mystery, suspense and detective novels in collaboration with her husband, John Bonett, published during the 1940s-60s.
Life
Felicity Winifred Carter was born in Ecclesall, Sheffield, to John Carter and Winifred. Her father worked in his Sheffield-based family firm of manufacturing chemists, Carter and Sons Ltd. She came from a literary family: her mother, Winifred Carter, was a prolific author, as was her uncle, John L. Carter, and her aunt, Edith Carter, penned several plays. Initial success came with A Girl Must Live, which was first serialized in Leisure magazine and later published as a novel in 1936. It was also adapted as a 1939 film of the same name, starring Margaret Lockwood. She married John Hubert Arthur Coulson, at Westminster Registry Office, London on 21 January 1939. They had one son, Nicholas John Coulson, born 2 January 1947, at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital, Hammersmith, London. She lived in Spain with her husband during her later years. John planned the books and Emery did most of the actual writing: the partnership is described by the self-penned blurb in the Penguin edition of No Grave for a Lady:
"John and Emery Bonett met at a Spanish language class. Instead of learning Spanish they became engaged. Emery had been a repertory actress, a scene-painter, a showgirl at the Prince of Wales, the back legs of a horse, and finally a writer. She was working as an ‘extra’ in a film studio when she heard that her first novel, A Girl Must Live, had been accepted for publication. The next time she set foot in the same studio was to see the film version of the story being made.
John had been in various disreputable professions: banker, company secretary, Civil Servant, journalist, sales promotion executive. Emery found he had imagination and plot-sense as well as grammar and a distorted sense of humour, not to mention a magnificent grasp of facts - which always eluded Emery. So she brought him into the writing business... Jointly and separately they have written for radio and television, short stories, song lyrics, and film scripts."
One Fine Day 27.10.44 Home Service - included in Radio Theatre: Plays Specially Written for Broadcasting, edited and introduced by Val Gielgud; published: MacDonald & Co, London, 1946
Mr Beverly Plays God 15.7.46 Home Service
The Puppet Master 29.1.48 Home Service - included in Five Radio Plays, edited and introduced by Val Gielgud; published: Vox Mundi, London, 1948
