Philips was born in
Northfield, Massachusetts, and traveled widely before completing his education and graduating from
Columbia University in 1925. Philips started writing short stories for
pulp fiction magazines in the 1920s and 1930s. He also wrote plays and a newspaper column. He was a prolific mystery writer, especially under the Hugh Pentecost moniker. His novels benefited from strong characterization, fair play with the reader, and unstilted language. He created several series characters, most of them "amateur" sleuths. Perhaps the best known is Pierre Chambrun, the suave manager of a New York luxury hotel who often has to solve murders among the rich and famous. In 1973, Philips received the Grand Master Award, the highest honor bestowed by the
Mystery Writers of America. An entertaining conversationalist and raconteur, he was well respected in his community and in his literary genre. In 1950, he helped found the Sharon Playhouse, where he served as a producer and adviser. In the mid-1960s he hosted a program about events in Connecticut's "Northwest Corner" on radio station WTOR in
Torrington, CT (610kh 1 kW day 500w night DA) which attracted a following. Phillips died of complications from
emphysema in 1989, at age 85, in
Canaan, Connecticut. He was survived by his wife, Norma Burton Philips; three sons, David, of Cranston, Connecticut; John, of Washington,, and Daniel, of
Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and a daughter, Caroline Norwood of Rochester. == Bibliography ==