Lionel Davidson

Lionel Davidson (born March 31, 1922 in Hull , Yorkshire , † October 21, 2009 in London ) was a British writer .

Life

He left school early and worked as an errand boy for the weekly magazine The Spectator . He later worked for the London press service Keystone, interrupted by World War II, where he served in the Submarine Navy.

After the war he traveled to Europe as a freelance reporter. His travel experience and the Cold War gave him the idea of ​​writing a spy novel that was set in what was then Czechoslovakia. The Night of Wenceslas was published in 1960 and was an instant hit. He received numerous awards for this, including the first of his three Gold Dagger for the best detective novel of the year. In 1964 the book was made into a film with Dirk Bogarde in the leading role under the title Some like it secret (Hot Enough for June).

Until 1978, other novels by him appeared at irregular intervals, all of which were also very successful. He also wrote some children's books, some of which he used the pseudonym David Line .

This was followed by a longer break until his last spy novel The Raven was published in 1994 . In 2001 he received the Diamond Dagger from the British crime authors' association CWA for his life's work .

Works

Adventure novel

• The Rose of Tibet ( The Rose of Tibet , 1962)

Spy novels

• Die Nacht des Wenceslas ( The Night of Wenceslas , 1960, Gold Dagger )
• The Secret of the Menorah ( A Long Way to Shiloh , 1966, Gold Dagger )
• Making Good Again , 1968
• The Call of the Gazelle ( Smith's Gazelle , 1971)
• The Black Gold ( The Sun Chemist , 1976)
• Death in Chelsea ( The Chelsea Murders , 1978, Gold Dagger )
• The raven ( Kolymsky Heights , 1994)

Children's books

• Ferris wheel meeting point (as David Line)
• Under the plum lake. A Fantasy ( Under Plum Lake , 1980, children's book)

Web links

• Literature by and about Lionel Davidson in the catalog of the German National Library