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Slow Burner
Slow Burner is a 1958 suspense novel by the British author William Haggard published in England by Cassell and in the United States by Little Brown. It was Haggard's first novel and the first of many involving his protagonist Colonel Charles Russell, the head of the urbane unobtrusive but lethal Security Executive, a government counter-intelligence agency clearly based on the actual MI5 or Security Service, who moves easily and gracefully along C.P. Snow's Corridors of Power in Whitehall. Like most of the other works by Haggard and some by his near contemporaries Victor Canning and Michael Gilbert Michael Francis Gilbert (17 July 1912 – 8 February 2006) was an English solicitor and author of crime fiction. Early life and education Gilbert was born on 17 July 1912 in Billinghay, Lincolnshire, England to Bernard Samuel Gilbert, a writ ..., it is both a standard novel of suspense and a semi-political thriller about the reactions of those in high government positions who s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Haggard
William Haggard (born Croydon 11 August 1907, died Frinton-on-Sea 27 October 1993) was the pseudonym of Richard Henry Michael Clayton, the son of the Rev. Henry James Clayton and Mabel Sarah Clayton. He was an English writer of fictional spy thrillers set in the 1960s through the 1980s, or, as the writer H. R. F. Keating called them, "action novels of international power." Like C. P. Snow, he was a quintessentially British Establishment figure who had been a civil servant in India, and his books vigorously put forth his perhaps idiosyncratic points of view. The principle character in most of his novels is the urbane Colonel Charles Russell of the fictional Security Executive, (clearly based on the actual MI5 or Security Service), who moves easily and gracefully along Snow's Corridors of Power in Whitehall. During the years of the fictional spy mania initially begun by the James Bond stories, Haggard was considered by most critics to be at the very top of the field. Keating, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cassell (publisher)
Cassell & Co is a British book publishing house, founded in 1848 by John Cassell (1817–1865), which became in the 1890s an international publishing group company. In 1995, Cassell & Co acquired Pinter Publishers. In December 1998, Cassell & Co was bought by the Orion Publishing Group. In January 2002, Cassell imprints, including the Cassell Reference and Cassell Military were joined with the Weidenfeld imprints to form a new division under the name of Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd. Cassell Illustrated survives as an imprint of the Octopus Publishing Group. History John Cassell (1817–1865), who was in turn a carpenter, temperance preacher, tea and coffee merchant, finally turned to publishing. His first publication was on 1 July 1848, a weekly newspaper called ''The Standard of Freedom'' advocating religious, political, and commercial freedom. '' The Working Man's Friend'' became another popular publication. In 1849 Cassell was dividing his time between his publishing and his gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Brown
Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily Dickinson's poetry and ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations''. Since 2006 Little, Brown and Company is a division of the Hachette Book Group. 19th century Little, Brown and Company had its roots in the book selling trade. It was founded in 1837 in Boston by Charles Little and James Brown. They formed the partnership "for the purpose of Publishing, Importing, and Selling Books". It can trace its roots before that to 1784 to a bookshop owned by Ebenezer Battelle on Marlborough Street. They published works of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington and they were specialized in legal publishing and importing titles. For many years, it was the most extensive law publisher in the United States, and also the largest importer of standard English law an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colonel Charles Russell
William Haggard (born Croydon 11 August 1907, died Frinton-on-Sea 27 October 1993) was the pseudonym of Richard Henry Michael Clayton, the son of the Rev. Henry James Clayton and Mabel Sarah Clayton. He was an English writer of fictional spy thrillers set in the 1960s through the 1980s, or, as the writer H. R. F. Keating called them, "action novels of international power." Like C. P. Snow, he was a quintessentially United Kingdom, British Establishment figure who had been a civil servant in India, and his books vigorously put forth his perhaps idiosyncratic points of view. The principle character in most of his novels is the urbane Colonel Charles Russell of the fictional Security Executive, (clearly based on the actual MI5 or Security Service), who moves easily and gracefully along Snow's Corridors of Power (novel), Corridors of Power in Whitehall. During the years of the fictional spy mania initially begun by the James Bond stories, Haggard was considered by most critics to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corridors Of Power (novel)
''Corridors of Power'' is the ninth book in C. P. Snow's ''Strangers and Brothers'' series. Its title had become a household phrase referring to the centres of government and power after Snow coined it in his earlier novel, ''Homecomings''. (A slightly rueful Foreword to ''Corridors of Power'' expresses the hope that he is at least entitled to use his own cliché.) Plot synopsis ''Corridors of Power'' is concerned with the attempts of an English MP to influence the country's policy on nuclear weapons in the 1950s. The central character is Roger Quaife, an ambitious politician and Cabinet Minister. He is widely attacked for his stand on Britain's position in the thermonuclear arms race; at the same time his affair with another woman leads to potential blackmail. Lewis Eliot attempts to assist him in covering up the affair as he supports Quaife's stand on the nuclear question. Reception In a 1964 book review in ''Kirkus Reviews'' called the book "a sound reading of the political, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Square. The street is recognised as the centre of the Government of the United Kingdom and is lined with numerous departments and ministries, including the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence, Horse Guards (building), Horse Guards and the Cabinet Office. Consequently, the name "Whitehall" is used as a metonymy, metonym for the British Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil service and British government, government, and as the geographic name for the surrounding area. The name was taken from the Palace of Whitehall that was the residence of Kings Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII through to William III of England, William III, before its destruction b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor Canning
Victor Canning (16 June 1911 – 21 February 1986) was a prolific British writer of novels and thrillers who flourished in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was personally reticent, writing no memoirs and giving relatively few newspaper interviews. Life Canning was born in Plymouth, Devon, the eldest child of a coach builder, Fred Canning, and his wife May, née Goold. During World War I his father served as an ambulance driver in France and Flanders, while he with his two sisters went to live in the village of Calstock ten miles north of Plymouth, where his uncle Cecil Goold worked for the railways and later became station master. After the war the family returned to Plymouth. In the mid-1920s they moved to Oxford where his father had found work, and Victor attended the Oxford Central School. Here he was encouraged to stay on at school and go to university by a classical scholar, Dr. Henderson, but the family could not afford it and instead Victor went to work as a clerk in the edu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Gilbert
Michael Francis Gilbert (17 July 1912 – 8 February 2006) was an English solicitor and author of crime fiction. Early life and education Gilbert was born on 17 July 1912 in Billinghay, Lincolnshire, England to Bernard Samuel Gilbert, a writer, and Berwyn Minna Cuthbert. From 1920–1926, he attended St. Peters school in Seaford, East Sussex and, from 1926–1931, he attended Blundell's School in Tiverton, Devon. He began to study law at London University but was unable to finish due to financial concerns. After becoming a schoolmaster at Salisbury Cathedral School, Gilbert returned to studying law, receiving his degree in 1937 and graduating with honours. It was at this time that he began to work on his first mystery novel, '' Close Quarters''. Military service During World War II, Gilbert served in North Africa and Italy with the Honourable Artillery Company. In 1943, he was captured and taken as a prisoner of war in northern Italy near Parma. Along with Eric Newby and Tom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
