Photo: Bettmann / Getty Images (1956)
Sample of authors
Kantor, MacKinlay
The author and journalist MacKinlay Kantor was born Benjamin McKinlay Kantor in Webster City, Iowa. His father, John Martin Kantor, a Swedish immigrant, did not stay long in any job and his marriage was a disaster. He abandoned his family when his son was born and from then on all contact with his two children ceased. Benjamin grew up with his mother, Effie McKinlay Kantor, at her parents' house...
Literary figures
Mike (Michael) Padillo
Gender: Male
After the Second World War, he was forced (through blackmail) to become a spy and executioner for an extremely secret American secret service. But he is also the part-owner, together with ‘Mac’ McCorkle, of a bar in Bonn. Michael (Mike) Padillo is half Estonian, half Spanish, and would like to live a life in calm and peace, but in a suite of novels by Ross Thomas he is obliged to undertake sev...