He was able to develop a readership in Europe and North America, as well as the Caribbean; and established himself in London, where he lived almost exclusively by writing fiction.

[1] Mittelholzer's novels include characters and situations from a variety of places within the Caribbean, and range in time from the early period of European settlement to the 20th century.

They feature a cross-section of ethnic groups and social classes, dealing with subjects of historical, political, psychological, and moral interest.

[6][7][8] Born into a mixed but white-passing middle class family (his forebears were Swiss-German, French, British, and African Caribbean), Mittelholzer was singled out as "swarthy" and called "the Dark One" for his olive complexion.

[6] Writing on the book, Sandra Lewis Williams compares Mittelholzer to Jean Rhys and Wilson Harris, and notes both the environmental and colonial concerns in the novel.

[7][13] Mittelholzer's typing job at the British Council gave him access to many of the UK's top literary figures, including Leonard Woolf.

[3] In 1955, he published My Bones and My Flute: A Ghost Story in the Old-Fashioned Manner, an important example of the Caribbean Gothic genre and one of his most well regarded works.

[17] During the 1950s and 60s, Mittelholzer was also among a group of West Indian writers who regularly featured on BBC's Caribbean Voices programme, including Derek Walcott, George Lamming, V.S.

Whenever possible, therefore, a distinguished Guyanese is identified and asked to deliver the Mittelholzer Memorial Lecture, which is viewed with distinction and the entire literary community, including scholars and academics, consider it a command appearance.

"[23] In order to celebrate Edgar Mittelholzer's 100th birthday in 2009, writer, sculptor and artist Stanley Greaves hosted an event with readings and an art exhibition at the Guyana National Gallery.

[4][24] Scholar Rupert Roopnaraine credits Peepal Tree Press for this revival, writing in a column for Stabroek News, “While it may be too early to speak of a Mittelholzer revival, there are encouraging signs of a reawakening of not only academic but wider general interest in the work of this prodigious pioneer of the Guyanese and Caribbean novel.”[3] Though many of Mittelholzer's books have remained out of print and difficult to obtain since the 1980s,[27] Peepal Tree Press has reissued several of his books with new introductions as part of its Caribbean Modern Classics line (beginning in 2007).

[29] Managing Editor Jeremy Poynting said of the reissued material, "I hope that our recovery of Edgar Mittelholzer’s earlier Caribbean work will reveal a much more serious and achieved writer than some of the previous criticism has suggested.