"Anthony Prior" published two novels. The name has been suspected of being a pseudonym, and the discovery of an inscribed copy revealing the author's real name as Alicey Crowther has confirmed this.
Alice Crowther was the older of two daughters of Joseph Crowther (1861-1932), a bookkeeper, and Alice Elizabeth Winders (1859-1937), who were married in Bradford, Yorkshire, on 27 February 1881. Alice's sister was Annie Crowther (1888-1973).
Her first novel as Anthony Prior was not published until 1946, so with the 1939 description as a novelist, we can wonder whether she published any previous books under a different name (there are none under her real name). The first novel is Lone Elm (Skeffington, [1946]). It is a occult melodrama to do with interactions between the dead and the living. The dead prey upon the living, often on their own relatives, and a doctor works at a house called Lone Elm where he and others treat such cases of "astralitis" by dislodging and interrogating the spirits, and then exorcising them.
The second novel, Concerning Mrs. Hubertson (Skeffington, 1951) is non-fantastic, covering the struggles of a starving maid who is preyed upon by a renowned artist.
