Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Top Notch Thrillers

Top Notch Thrillers, the new imprint of print-on-demand publisher OSTARA (www.ostarapublishing.co.uk) celebrates its first year in operation with the re-issue of two classic British thrillers.

John Gardner’s debut novel The Liquidator was originally written as an affectionate spoof of the James Bond genre and featured the cowardly, accident-prone agent ‘Boysie’ Oakes. Originally published in 1964, shortly after the death of Ian Fleming, the Boysie Oakes books were seen as a natural successor to Bond and in the 1970s, John Gardner (by now an established thriller writer) was approached by the estate of Ian Fleming to continue the 007 franchise. In total, Gardner wrote over 50 novels, the last of which was published posthumously in 2008.

Victor Canning (1911-1986) was one of Britain’s best-loved popular novelists, whose first book was published at the age of 23 and whose writing career spanned more than 50 years. The Rainbird Pattern is probably his most famous thriller and won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Silver Dagger in 1972. It was filmed by Alfred Hitchcock (his last film) as Family Plot.

Top Notch Thrillers aims to revive Great British thrillers which do not deserve to be forgotten. Each title is carefully chosen not just for its plot and sense of adventure but for the distinctiveness and sheer quality of its writing.

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