The Hunt Ball Mystery »

Sir William Magnay, (1855-1917) was the second Baronet of Magnay, of Postford House in the county of Surrey. His father, who had been the Lord Mayor of London, had been created the first Baronet Magnay in 1844. In addition to The Hunt Ball Mystery, Sir William wrote a number of other novels including A Prince of Lovers and The Mystery of the Unicorn.

"Let us throw off this depressing business as well as we can," he said. "Of course I have had to break it to my sister and the others; they would have seen it to-day in print. Thank goodness the papers don't look beyond the suicide idea, so they are not making much fuss about it. If they took a more sensational view, as I fear they will now after the medical evidence, it would be a terrible nuisance."