Leonard Cyril Deighton is a British author. His publications have included cookery books, history and military history, but he is best known for his spy novels.
Len Deighton is an English author known for his novels, works of military history, screenplays and cookery writing. He had a varied career, including as a pastry cook, waiter, co-editor of a magazine, teacher and air steward before writing his first novel in 1962: The IPCRESS File. He continued to produce what his biographer John Reilly considers "stylish, witty, well-crafted novels" in spy fiction, including three trilogies and a prequel featuring Bernard Samson.
Touch the Lion's Paw is a 1975 thriller novel by the British writer Derek Lambert. The plot revolves around a major diamond heist carried out in Amsterdam.
The Kites of War is a 1969 thriller novel by the British writer Derek Lambert. It is set on the Chinese-Indian frontier, where Lambert had worked as a foreign correspondent.
The Saint Peter's Plot is a 1978 thriller novel by the British writer Derek Lambert. During the closing stage of the Second World War, the Nazis hatch a plot to save their leaders from disaster.
The Three Couriers is a 1929 comedy thriller novel by the British writer Compton Mackenzie. It was inspired by his own experiences working for British intelligence during the First World War. It is set in Southeastern Europe, and features the fictional British spy Roger Waterson who had previously appeared in Extremes Meet. Thriller writer Eric Ambler was an admirer of the novel.
Extremes Meet is a 1928 comedy thriller novel by the British writer Compton Mackenzie. It set in Southeastern Europe, and features the fictional British spy Roger Waterson who subsequently appeared in a sequel The Three Couriers published the following year.
Rockets Galore is a 1957 comedy novel by the British writer Compton Mackenzie. It is the sequel to his 1947 novel Whisky Galore, and sees the inhabitants of a remote Scottish island resist a government plan to build a missile base on their home. The author refers to it, in a Author's Note, as a 'bitter farce', as opposed to a 'genial farce' that Whisky Galore was.
The Limbo Line is a 1968 British spy thriller film directed by Samuel Gallu and starring Craig Stevens, Kate O'Mara and Eugene Deckers. It is based on the 1963 novel of the same title by Victor Canning. It was made as part of a 1960s boom in spy films in the wake of the success of the James Bond series.
The Limbo Line is a 1963 spy thriller novel by the British writer Victor Canning. A former British secret service agent Richard Manston is called out of retirement to tackle a Soviet spy network kidnapping recent defectors to be taken back to Moscow.
Panther's Moon is a 1948 spy thriller novel by the British writer Victor Canning. It was his second post-war novel, following The Chasm, as he had largely been taken a break from writing during his wartime service.
Department K is a 1964 spy thriller novel by the British writer Hartley Howard. It was published in the United States under the alternative title Assignment K.
The Burden of Proof is a 1968 crime novel by the British writer James Barlow.
The Spy in Black is a 1917 spy thriller novel by the British writer J. Storer Clouston. It takes place near Scapa Flow in the Orkneys during the First World War. It was one of several thrillers he wrote along with The Man from the Clouds and Beastmark the Spy.
Beastmark the Spy is a 1941 spy thriller novel by the British writer J. Storer Clouston. His final published novel, it was one of several notable thrillers he wrote along with The Spy in Black and The Man from the Clouds. It originally appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine.
Time Right Deadly is a 1956 thriller novel by the British writer Sarah Gainham. Her debut novel, it was shortlisted for the Gold Dagger Award, losing out to Edward Grierson's The Second Man. Like many of her novels it takes place in post-war Austria, where she lived.
The Cold Dark Night is a 1957 spy thriller novel by the British writer Sarah Gainham. Her second novel, it is set at the height of the Cold War when the 1954 Berlin Conference saw the Big Four foreign ministers arrive in the divided city. Gainham had worked in Berlin as a journalist at the time of the Conference.
The Mythmaker is a 1957 spy thriller novel by the British writer Sarah Gainham, her third published novel. At with many of her works it takes place in Vienna, where she settled in the post-war era. It was released in the United States in 1958 under the alternative title Appointment in Vienna.
The Silent Hostage is a 1960 spy thriller novel by the British writer Sarah Gainham. Before writing her most celebrated work Night Falls on the City, Gainham produced several thrillers set in Continental Europe where she had lived since 1947. The novel takes place on the Adriatic Coast of Yugoslavia not long after the Second World War.
Let Sleeping Girls Lie is a 1965 spy thriller novel by the British writer Stephen Coulter, published under the pen name James Mayo. It is the second in a series of five novels by Coulter, featuring the British secret agent Charles Hood. The series was an attempt to capitalise on the popularity of the James Bond novels and films. It was published in London by Heinemann and New York by William Morrow. While the book sold well, it received a poor critical reception. Writer Anthony Boucher's review noted "Let Sleeping Girls Lie has loads of sex, sadism and snobbery, and no sense at all of plot or structure". although he praised the novel's action and sex scenes. The first Hood novel Hammerhead was made into film of the same title in 1968, but the poor reception ended producer Irving Allen's plans to film the sequels and create a rival to the Bond series.
