Alan Anthony Price (16 August 1928 – 30 May 2019) was an English author of espionage
thriller
Thriller may refer to:
* Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television
** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre
Comics
* ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...
s.
Early life
Price was born in Rickmansworth,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, England. He attended
The King's School, Canterbury
The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...
and served in the
British Army
The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
from 1947 to 1949, reaching the rank of
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
. He read history at
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...
, from 1949 to 1952, and was awarded an MA in 1956.
Career
Price was a journalist with the Westminster Press from 1952 to 1988, as well as the editor of the ''
Oxford Times
''The Oxford Times'' is a weekly newspaper, published each Thursday in Oxford, England. The paper is published from a large production facility at Osney Mead, west Oxford, and is owned by Newsquest, the UK subsidiary of US-based Gannett Compan ...
'' from 1972 to 1988. He was the author of nineteen novels in the ''Dr David Audley''/''Colonel Jack Butler'' series. These books focus on a group of counter-intelligence agents who work for an organization loosely based on the real
MI5
MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
.
Death
Price died in Blackheath, London, from
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. GOLD defines COPD as a heterogeneous lung condition characterized by chronic respiratory s ...
on 30 May 2019, at the age of 90.
Bibliography
Novels
*''The Labyrinth Makers'' (1970) UK; (1971) US; winner of Silver Dagger Award.
*''The Alamut Ambush'' (1971) UK; (1972) US
*''Colonel Butler's Wolf'' (1972) UK; (1973) US
*''October Men'' (1973) UK; (1974) US
*''Other Paths to Glory'' (1974) UK; (1975) US; winner of
Gold Dagger
The CWA Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year.
From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. ...
Award, and shortlisted for the
Dagger of Daggers
The Dagger of Daggers was a special award given in 2005 by the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) to celebrate its 50th anniversary. All books that had previously won the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year were eligible, and the purpose ...
, a special award given in 2005 by the
Crime Writers' Association
The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors' organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its "Dagger" awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...
(CWA) to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
*''Our Man in Camelot'' (1975) UK; (1976) US
*''War Game'' (1976) UK; (1977) US
*''The '44 Vintage'' (1978) UK & US
*''Tomorrow's Ghost'' (1979) UK & US
*''The Hour of the Donkey'' (1980) UK & US
*''Soldier No More'' (1981) UK; (1981) US
*''The Old Vengeful'' (1982) UK; (1983) US
*''Gunner Kelly'' (1983) UK; (1984) US
*''Sion Crossing'' (1984) UK & US
*''Here Be Monsters'' (1985) UK & US
*''For the Good of the State'' (1986) UK; (1987) US
*''A New Kind of War'' (1987) UK; (1988) US
*''A Prospect of Vengeance'' (1988) UK; (1990) US
*''The Memory Trap'' (1989)
Short stories
* ''A Green Boy'' – first published in ''Winter's Crimes 5'' (1973)
* ''The Boudicca Killing'' – first published in ''Winter's Crimes 11'' (1979)
* ''The Berzin Lecture'' – first published in ''Winter's Crimes 15'' (1983)
* ''The Chinaman's Garden'' – first published in ''John Creasey's Crime Collection 1984'' (1984)
* ''The Road to Suez'' – first published in ''The Rigby File'' (1989), ed.
Jo Walton
Jo Walton (born 1964) is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel '' Among Others'', which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and '' Tooth and Claw'', a Victorian-era novel w ...