Name Francis Clifford Role Writer | Died 1975 Movies Goodbye and Amen | |
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Nominations Edgar Award for Best Novel Books Good‑bye and Amen, Time is an ambush, The naked runner, Zegnaj Grosvenor Square, Amigo - Amigo | ||
Francis Clifford is a pen name of Arthur Leonard Bell Thompson (1 December 1917 – 24 August 1975), a British writer of crime and thriller novels.
Biography
Thompson was born on 1 December 1917 in Bristol, England. Prior to the Second World War, he worked as a Commercial Assistant in the rice trade, starting in London in 1935 and later in Burma from 1938-9. During the war he belonged to the Special Operations Executive, serving first in India and then in London. After returning to civilian life he worked as a journalist in the steel industry, and took up writing in his spare time. In 1959 he left his position and started writing full-time. Thompson was married twice, first to Marjorie Bennett in 1944 and then, in 1955, following the dissolution of his first marriage, to Josephine Devereux. He had two sons.
From the late 1950s until his death in 1975, Thompson wrote 18 novels under the name Francis Clifford. His earlier novels were set in Southeast Asia and drew heavily on his experiences there during the Second World War.