Photo: Jane Mingay / AP Photo/TT (2005)
Sample of authors
Rendell, Ruth
The British crime writer Ruth Rendell was born in London as Ruth Barbara Graseman. Her mother was of Scandinavian origin and her father a former shipyard worker in Plymouth who was able to train as a technology and mathematics teacher as an adult. Ruth Rendell attended the County High School for Girls in Loughton, Essex. She was a feature writer and deputy editor at a number of local newspapers...
Literary figures
Jackson Lamb
Gender: Male
Misanthropic boss of Slough House, a department for discharged spies and agents in the British MI5. Jackson Lamb, a central figure in a suite of novels by Mick Herron, is a former spy who has gone to seed. He is tall, has an ‘offensive’ face, is cynical and sarcastic, a chain smoker and is careless about his personal hygiene. This doesn’t prevent him and his department from managing to solve sever...