Photo: Quim Llenas/Cover/Getty Images (2006)
Sample of authors
Symons, Julian
Julian Gustave Symons was a British author and critic born in London, where he spent part of his life. His mother was English and his father a Russian Jew, a stern Victorian patriarch who gave his son little or no encouragement. Symons developed such a severe stammer in childhood that he was sent to a succession of state schools for retarded children. He was close to his twelve years older...
Literary figures
John Thorndyke
Gender: Male
A classic in crime literature, regarded as the first ‘scientific’ detective. Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke not only has degrees in Law and Medicine, he is also a forensic technician and pathologist, explains R. Austin Freeman in his books. Thorndyke is tall and strong, he is handsome, has exceptionally good eyesight and hearing, and a clever laboratory assistant called Polton.