Derek Raymond was born Robin Cook in 1931. His novels include A State of Denmark, The Crust on its Uppers, I Was Dora Suarez and How the Dead Live, which was made into a film. The son of a textile magnate, he dropped out of Eton aged sixteen and spent much of his early career among criminals and was employed at various times as a pornographer, organiser of illegal gambling, money launderer, pig-slaughterer and minicab driver. He died in London in 1994.

?A bizarre mixture of Chandleresque elegance... and naked brutality? Daily Telegraph ?Hellishly bleak and moving? New Statesman ?He writes beautifully, and his sincerity cannot be faulted? Evening Standard ?Raymond writes with a stomach-churning exactness about murder, madness and mutilation? The Times ?Superb... an English Chandler... only better? Daily Mail ?A mixture of thin-lipped Chandleresque backchat and of idioms more icily subversive? Observer ?Raw-edged, strong and disturbing stuff? The Scotsman

Derek Raymond was born Robin Cook in 1931. His novels include A State of Denmark, The Crust on its Uppers, I Was Dora Suarez and How the Dead Live, which was made into a film. The son of a textile magnate, he dropped out of Eton aged sixteen and spent much of his early career among criminals and was employed at various times as a pornographer, organiser of illegal gambling, money launderer, pig-slaughterer and minicab driver. He died in London in 1994.

?A bizarre mixture of Chandleresque elegance... and naked brutality? Daily Telegraph ?Hellishly bleak and moving? New Statesman ?He writes beautifully, and his sincerity cannot be faulted? Evening Standard ?Raymond writes with a stomach-churning exactness about murder, madness and mutilation? The Times ?Superb... an English Chandler... only better? Daily Mail ?A mixture of thin-lipped Chandleresque backchat and of idioms more icily subversive? Observer ?Raw-edged, strong and disturbing stuff? The Scotsman

Derek Raymond was born Robin Cook in 1931. His novels include A State of Denmark, The Crust on its Uppers, I Was Dora Suarez and How the Dead Live, which was made into a film. The son of a textile magnate, he dropped out of Eton aged sixteen and spent much of his early career among criminals and was employed at various times as a pornographer, organiser of illegal gambling, money launderer, pig-slaughterer and minicab driver. He died in London in 1994.

?A bizarre mixture of Chandleresque elegance... and naked brutality? Daily Telegraph ?Hellishly bleak and moving? New Statesman ?He writes beautifully, and his sincerity cannot be faulted? Evening Standard ?Raymond writes with a stomach-churning exactness about murder, madness and mutilation? The Times ?Superb... an English Chandler... only better? Daily Mail ?A mixture of thin-lipped Chandleresque backchat and of idioms more icily subversive? Observer ?Raw-edged, strong and disturbing stuff? The Scotsman