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Portrait image of W. Somerset Maugham Photo: 1929 Bassano/Camera Press / TT

Sample of authors

Maugham, W. Somerset

William Somerset Maugham was a British author born in Paris. His father was a lawyer at the British Embassy there. When Maugham was eight years old, his mother died of tuberculosis, two years later his father died of cancer and the boy was sent to live with his uncle, the Vicar of Whitstable in Kent. Maugham suffered from a serious stammer, he was shy and avoided speaking in public; unlike his...

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Literary figures

Continental Op

Gender: Male

His name is never mentioned, but he is employed at the major private detective agency The Continental Agency’s offices in San Francisco and he solves crime all over the United States. Little is known about him apart from the fact that he is a good investigator, that he is unmarried and the he describes himself as “fat and forty”. He is the principal character in a string of short stories by Dashi...

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