William Haggard

William Haggard (11 August 1907 – 27 October 1993) was the pseudonym of Richard Henry Michael Clayton, an English civil servant and writer of fictional spy thrillers. He was born in Croydon.^[1]

Writing career

His books were set in the 1960s through the 1980s.^[2] Like C. P. Snow, he was a quintessentially British establishment figure who had been a civil servant in India, and his books vigorously put forth his perhaps idiosyncratic points of view. The principal character in most of his novels was Colonel Charles Russell of the fictional Security Executive. During the years of the fictional spy mania, initially begun by the James Bond stories, Haggard was considered by most critics to be at the very top of the field.

Books

Colonel Charles Russell series

• Slow Burner (1958)
• Venetian Blind (1959)
• The Arena (1961)
• The Unquiet Sleep (1962)
• The High Wire (1963)
• The Antagonists (1964)
• The Hard Sell (1965)
• The Powder Barrel (1965)
• The Power House (1966)
• The Conspirators (1967)
• A Cool Day for Killing (1968)
• The Hardliners (1970)
• The Bitter Harvest (1971) aka Too Many Enemies
• The Old Masters (1973) aka The Notch on the Knife
• The Scorpion's Tale (1975)
• Yesterday's Enemy (1976)
• The Poison People (1977)
• Visa to Limbo (1978)
• The Median Line (1979)
• The Money Men (1981)
• The Mischief Makers (1982)
• The Heirloom (1983)
• The Need To Know (1984)
• The Meritocrats (1985)
• The Vendettists (1990)

Other novels

• The Telemann Touch (1958)
• Closed Circuit (1960)
• The Doubtful Disciple (1969)
• The Protectors (1972)
• The Kinsmen (1974)
• The Martello Tower (1986)
• The Diplomatist (1987)
• The Expatriots (1989)

References

1. "Obituary". Independent on Sunday.
2. WorldCat.