Some 60 years ago,
Desmond Cory wrote the first of a series of thrillers
that helped spawn one of Britain's most popular
fictional genres - the 20th Century "Spy
Novel".
Sometimes referred to as "Brit
Grit", this phenomenon comprised several well-known
characters such as Ian Fleming's James Bond, and
Len Deighton's Harry Palmer. At its peak, the
genre sold several million books across the world,
and was watched by even greater numbers on the
Big Screen, due to the immense popularity of James
Bond, as incarnated by the incomparable Sean Connery.
Preceding the now legendary 007 was Desmond Cory's
Johnny Fedora, "the thinking man's James Bond".
This Web site is dedicated to Shaun
McCarthy (aka Desmond Cory) - the author, the
characters he created, the novels he wrote, and
his other literary achievements..
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News
The new Johnny Fedora website is live!
It's great to see the success of the Johnny Fedora novels followed up with a dedicted website. It looks great with lots of information about the creaive genious behind the series, and how wth series works so well in the 21st Century as it did in the 1950s when first published. Anyone who loves the classic espionage novels before the age of computers and gadgets will love it! Visit te site at:
www.johnnyfedora.com
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New Desmond Cory novel - first publication of On The Gulf on Kindle.
The long awaited return of the Lindy Grey detective series is over. The first novel "Begin Murderer" is now available on Amazon Kindle. Get your copy
Desmond Cory's Lindy Grey novels now available on Amazon Kindle.
The long awaited return of the Lindy Grey detective series is over. The first novel "Begin Murderer" is now available on Amazon Kindle. Get your copy
Ostara Publishing publish new interview with Desmond Cory.
A hitherto unpublished interview with Desmond Cory has been released with
the new pubication of Undertow by Ostara Publishing. In the interview, Cory reveals where he got his pen-name from, and who inspired him during his early years as a novelist. View the full
interview. |
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The
man behind the books
Desmond Cory's accomplishments
include:
- over 45 thriller /detective novels
published in over 10 languages (winning accolades
such as the Sunday Times' Best Crime novel of
the year, and Crime Critics' choice of the year.
- "Deadfall" was made into a film by 20th Century
Fox, starring Michael Caine
- "The Circe Complex" was televised in a 6 part
series by Thames Television
- screen-plays for the movie adaptation
of Graham Greene’s novel "England Made Me".
- radio scripts for the BBC
- small number of children's books
- interviews with well known British
actors such as Michael York
- As a Professor of English Literature,
he wrote academic papers on modern English literature,
and taught at a number of international Universities.
Desmond Cory was born in Lancing,
Sussex on February 16th 1928. He was educated
at Steyning Grammar School, and after serving
as a commando in the Royal Marines immediately
after World War II, he studied English literature
at St Peter's College, Oxford, graduating with
Honours in 1951. He pursued an academic and literary
career for the next forty-five years, and in 1976
was awarded a Ph. D. from the University of Cardiff,
Wales.
Starting as a freelance writer,
he moved in 1953 to Cordoba, Spain, where he served
as a technical translator and began teaching for
the Academia Britanica. In Spain he married Blanca
Rosa Poyatos, and became father to 4 boys.
Cory taught throughout most of his life, first
at the University of Cardiff, and then enjoyed
a series of associate professorships of English
Literature in Arabic-speaking countries such as
Qatar, Bahrain, and Yemen. He then became an advisor
to the Ministry of Education in Salalah, Oman
before leaving the Arabian Gulf in 1990 to take
up a university position in Famagusta, Cyprus.
In 1996 he retired with Blanca Rosa to their home
in the province of Malaga in Southern Spain.
Despite his very busy professional
life as an academic, Cory was a prolific writer
whose work evolved and matured throughout the
years, culminating in "The Dobie trilogy"
published between 1991 and 1993. At the time of
his death in January 2001, he left several unfinished
manuscripts.
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