- A founding member of the Crime Writers' Association of Britain, he was the legal adviser of Raymond Chandler at one time and drew up his will. A soldier in the Royal Horse Artillery in World War II, he was captured in North Africa and imprisoned in Tunis and in Italy, experiences which he drew on for his escape story "Death in Captivity" (1952). He has been called one of the finest of the post-WWII generation of detective writers.
- He was captured by the Germans in North Africa and was transferred to Italy where he jumped from a POW train with a friend, Lt Tony Davies. Both were later recaptured and moved to an officer's camp in the Po valley.
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