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Portrait of Len Deighton Photo: Ulf Andersen/Getty Images (1986)

Sample of authors

Deighton, Len

The British author Len Deighton was born as Leonard Cyril Deighton in London. His father was a chauffeur; his mother worked in a hotel kitchen. He was a boy when he helped his father as a volunteer during the London Blitz. After leaving school he worked briefly as a railway clerk, and at the age of seventeen he joined the Royal Air Force Special Investigation Branch as a photographer. He then...

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Literary figures

Gendarmerichef Laviolette

Gender: Male

Laviolette works as the head of the gendarmerie in Provence at the beginning of the 20th century. When readers meet him for the first time, he is investigating a strange case where people have died after using an aphrodisiac, and in which his 17-year-old son turns out to be involved. Pierre Magnan only wrote one more novel about the head of the gendarmerie, but he did write a whole series about...

Further reading