Victor Canning

Victor Canning (born 1911) was a prolific British author of spy thrillers and adventure novels. He also wrote four novels about a fictional private eye named Rex Carver whose adventures tended to become mixed up with secret agents and undercover departments. He had written many books over a 25-year period before his 1972 novel The Rainbird Pattern won prizes in both England and the United States as the best mystery novel of the year. It was a far darker and more ironic book than any of his previous efforts and it earned him a high critical reputation that stayed with him for the rest of his career.