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Portrait image of Ian Rankin Ian Rankin and Maj Sjöwall
Photo: Ola Erikson / Forflex

Sample of authors

Rankin, Ian

The Scottish crime writer Ian James Rankin was born in the coal mining town of Cardenden, Fife, where his father owned a grocery store. His mother worked in a school canteen. There were few books at home, and Rankin began to visit his local library as a child and began to write short stories as a teenager. He attended Denend Primary School in Cardendan and later Auchterderran Junior High at...

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Portrait image of Margery Allingham Photo by ANL/REX / TT (1955)

Sample of authors

Allingham, Margery

English crime writer born in Ealing, London, as the daughter of Herbert John Allingham and his wife and cousin Emily Jane Hughes. Both parents were writers and journalists who regularly contributed to various weekly magazines. Herbert John was the editor of the New London Journal as well as the Christian Globe.
Margery Allingham grew up in Essex as the oldest of three children. She was...

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