Ellery Queen (Lee and Dannay) Photo: Bettmann / Getty Images
Sample of authors
Queen, Ellery
Ellery Queen is a pen name shared by Frederic Dannay, born Daniel Nathan, and Manfred B. (Bennington) Lee, born Manford Lepofsky, both from New York. They were cousins who attended Boy's High School, Brooklyn, together and later worked independently within PR and advertising before they started writing full time in 1931.
Ellery Queen is something of institution in the detective genre; the books...
Literary figures
Mike Hammer
Gender: Male
One of the most severely criticised literary figures of all times is Michael ‘Mike’ Hammer – a cynical, vengeful army veteran who completely lacks any sense of humour, a communist-hater and private detective, who is the protagonist in a row of bestselling novels by Mickey Spillane. Hammer’s only weak point is his love for his secretary Velda. This figure is in part loosely based on a real-life Tex...