 Hornung returned to England in February 1886 , before the death of his father in November . From a position of relative prosperity , John 's coal and iron business had encountered difficulties and he was in financially <unk> circumstances by the time of his death . Hornung found work in London as a journalist and story writer , often publishing his work under a pseudonym , although in 1887 he published his first story under his own name , " <unk> of Five " , which appeared in <unk> magazine . His work as a journalist was during the period of Jack the <unk> and the series of five murders , which were undertaken against a background of rising urban crime in London ; it was around this time that Hornung developed an interest in criminal behaviour . 
