Eric Wright

Eric Wright (May 4, 1929 – October 9, 2015) was a Canadian writer of mystery novels.

Life Wright was born on Kennington Park Road, in South London, England. He was the son of seamstress Caroline (Curnow), and carter Joseph Wright. Wright was born into a large, poor family of ten children. After growing up in Lambeth, he immigrated to Canada in 1951. Until his retirement Wright taught English at Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto (1958–89).

Eric Wright was the author of four mystery/detective series—the Inspector Charlie Salter Mysteries, the Lucy Trimble Brenner Mysteries, the Mel Pickett Mysteries, and the Joe Barley Mysteries—as well as a memoir Always Give a Penny to a Blind Man which covers most of Wright's life from when he was a child growing up poor in working-class London through his immigration to Canada and the beginning of his university attendance. It is said that his "early life experiences contributed to his...gift for fiction". Wright also wrote two stand-alone novels, Moodie's Tale and Finding Home, the novella "Dempsey's Lodge", and a short story, "Twins".

Wright is best known for his series of police procedurals featuring Metropolitan Toronto police inspector Charlie Salter.

In a book review of Wright's novel Moodie's Tale, Wright was described as having "created a protagonist who can conduct the reader through the convoluted maze of academic life". Moodie's Tale (1994) follows the adventurous career of a young Cambridge graduate with an M.A. from Simcoe University. It has been said that "it would not be all that surprising… if Moodie's Tale became an underground handbook for anyone contemplating—or currently enmeshed in – an academic career". On October 9, 2015, Wright died of kidney cancer at the age of 86.

In the fall of 2015 Wright was notified that he had been selected for the Crime Writers of Canada Grand Master Award. This was awarded posthumously in May 2016.