George Frederick Robert Sims (3 August 1923,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

– 4 November 1999, Reading, Berkshire), also known as George Sims, was an English antiquarian bookseller and writer of

crime thrillers Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

. He was born in the Hammersmith district of London in 1923, the son of a shoe merchant. He was educated at the John Lyons School in

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...

. He married Beryl Simcock in 1943, with whom he had three children. He served in the Intelligence Corps in the final years of World War II. After the war, he started working at Len Westwood's bookshop in Harrow before setting up as a mail order bookseller under the name of G.F. Sims. In 1952, he moved to the village of Hurst in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

and remained there till his death. As a writer, Sims published poetry, crime thrillers, and four volumes of memoirs. Several of his novels were published in

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

paperback and won praise from figures such as H.R.F. Keating, Maurice Richardson, Roy Fuller and Evelyn Waugh. Several of his books, notably ''The Terrible Door'' (1964), involve the rare book and manuscript trade of which he had experience.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, George Frederick 1923 births 1999 deaths 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English poets 20th-century English memoirists English booksellers English crime fiction writers English thriller writers English male novelists People from Hammersmith Writers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Intelligence Corps soldiers English male poets Novelists from London British Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Military personnel from Berkshire