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...
Literary figures
Lew Archer
Gender: Male
He began his careers within the police, but he was too honest for his job, so he became a private investigator in Los Angeles instead. Ross Macdonald’s sympathetic, intelligent and sensitive protagonist, Lew Archer, is one of the best-known characters within the hard-boiled crime genre. He often helps young people that have got into trouble, and he engages in cultural activities in his spare time.