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Portrait of Tana French Photo: Irish Independent/Eyevine/TT (2019)

Sample of authors

French, Tana

Crime writer and actress Tana French was born in Burlington, Vermont, USA. Her father was an economist and worked all around the world. The family also lived in Italy, Malawi and Ireland. From 17 years of age, French has lived in Dublin. She now has both American and Irish citizenship. When she was a child, Tana thought about becoming an archaeologist. She has subsequently taken part in several...

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Literary figures

Sam Spade

Gender: Male

Dashiell Hammett only wrote one novel and a few short stories about the American private detective Sam Spade. The Maltese Falcon, however, is a major classic and like some of his short stories it is the precursor of the hardboiled detective story. The cynical, tough and outright rude Spade and his personal habits are so often copied that they have become clichés.

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