Don Betteridge is the pen-name of Bernard Newman who, under his own name, wrote more than 100 books in both the fiction and non-fiction fields. As Don Betteridge he wrote only mystery novels, 14 in all, each one with 'Tiger' Lester as the hero. The series began with 'Scotland Yard Alibi' in 1938 and ended with 'The Package Holiday Spy Case' in 1962. A great nephew of the Victorian novelist George Eliot, Newman served in the trenches in World War I before, due to his fluency in French, becoming an undercover agent in France. This began his lifelong interest in spies and spying, a subject in which he became an acknowledged expert. As Bernard Newman he also wrote crime novels, beginning with 'Death of a Harlot' in 1934 and ending with 'The Jail-Breakers' in 1968. In World War II he was a staff lecturer at the Ministry of Information and also spent time lecturing in the United States and Canada and also appeared on radio in those countries speaking on Britain and the War. He died on 19 February 1968.