Some 50 years ago, Desmond Cory wrote the first of a series of books that helped spawn one of Britain's most popular fictional genres - the 20th Century "Spy Fiction".

Sometimes referred to as "Brit Grit", this phenomenon led to the creation of well known characters such as Ian Fleming's James Bond, and Len Deighton's Harry Palmer. At it's peak, the genre sold several millions of books across the world, and was watched by even greater numbers on the Big Screen due to the phenomenon that has become James Bond. Preceeding all of this was Desmond Cory's Johhny Fedora, "the thinking man's James Bond".

This Web site is dedicated to Shaun McCarthy (aka Desmond Cory) - the author, the characters he created, the novels he wrote, and his other literary achievements.

Achievements

• over 45 thriller /detective novels published in over 10 languages (winning accolades such as the Sunday Times'Best Crime novel of the year, and Crime Critic’s choice of the year.
  - "Deadfall" was made into a film by 20th Century Fox, starring Michael Caine
  - "Circe Complex" was televised in a 6 part series by Thames Television
• screen-plays for the movie adaptation of Graham Greene’s novels such as "England Made Me".
• radio scripts for the BBC
• small number of children's books
• interviews with well known British actors such as Michael York
• As a Professor Of English Literature, he wrote academic papers on modern English literature, and taught at a number of international Universities.
  

The Man Behind the Books

Desmond Cory was born in Sussex in 1928. After serving as a commando in the Royal Marines immediately after World War II, he began an education that was to extend over many years. In 1951 he earned a B. A. degree from St. Peter’s College, Oxford, and returned to get an M. A. in 1960. Then in 1976, he was awarded a Ph. D. from the University of Cardiff, Wales.

Starting as a freelance writer, he moved in 1953 to Cordoba, Spain, where he served as a technical translator and began teaching for the Academia Britanica. In Spain he began his life-long marriage to Blanca Rosa Poyatos, and became father to 4 boys.

Cory taught throughout most of his life, teaching at the University of Cardiff ,and then a series of associate professorships of English in Arabic-speaking countries such as of Qatar, Bahrain, and Yemen. He then became an advisor to the Ministry of Education iin Oman before leaving the Arabian Gulf in 1990 to take a university position in Famagusta, Cyprus. In 1996 he retired with his wife, Blanca Rosa, to Southern Spain.

Despite his very busy professional life, Cory was a prolific writer whose work evolved according to his life experiences.