Heritage Open Day: Ghost writers. Meet four writers connected to Epsom and Ewell Mrs Beeton, Robert Fabian,Samuel Pepys and Charles Dickens Robert Fabian was a police officer, who rose to the rank of Detective Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police. After retirement from the force in 1949, he worked as crime writer. Mrs Beeton Victorian writer whose 'Book of Household Management' is one of the most famous cookery books ever published. Samuel Pepys . During the diary period Pepys visited our area on six occasions: once in 1663, four times in 1665 and once in 1667. He spent time in Ewell and Nonesuch Palace. He makes it clear that he was already well-acquainted with the area: a cousin lived at Ashtead and Samuel spent time there as a boy.