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Portrait of Gore Vidal Photo: David Shankbone (2009)
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Vidal, Gore

The American novelist and essayist Gore Vidal was born at West Point, New York. He was originally christened Eugene Vidal, but in his teens he changed his first name to his maternal grandfather’s surname. Gore Vidal was the only child of the pilot Eugene Luther Vidal and his wife, Nina S. Gore, an actress. He was not close to either. His parents were divorced when Vidal was ten, and although he m...

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Literary figures

John Mallett

Gender: Male

It is not clear whether he really is called John: but author Cyril Hare (pseudonym for Gordon Clark) has privately indicated that such is the case. Mallett is a detective inspector at Scotland Yard. He is a widower, tall and well-built, with a mild-red face. He sees lunch as the most important event of the day, but nevertheless manages to solve a number of troublesome murder cases, more often...

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