Photo by Paul Fievez/Daily Mail/REX/TT (1978)
Sample of authors
Levin, Ira
The American novelist, playwright and scriptwriter Ira Levin was born in Bronx in New York; he was the only child in the family. His father, Charles Levin, was a successful businessman in the toy trade. Ira Levin started his academic education at Drake University in Des Moines, but after a couple of years moved to New York University, where he gained a B.A. in Philosophy and English in 1950.
He...
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.