Created by James Mitchell
Pseudonyms include Patrick O. McGuire & James Munro
(1926-2002)
“I’m good at finding things. It’s what I’m for.”
TOMMASO RONALD HOGGET is telling it like it is. He’s good at finding things. And people.
He’s a globe-trotting Anglo-Italian private eye based in London, and that’s his speciality. For a price he’ll find it.
Diamonds. Coins. Dogs. Race horses. Airplanes. People. Even kids (although he’d rather not).
And no rough stuff. As he says, “Nothing like that.”
Don’t believe him, though. Well-spoken and self-educated, he may consider himself a business man, but when push comes to shove, he’s not afraid to mix it up, occasionally calling on the aid of his philosophical sidekick Dave Baxter, a pugnacious cabbie who knows way more about weapons than your average taxi driver.
The hero of a trilogy by British writer James Mitchell, Ron lives in a “a world without any clearly defined good/ bad guys; (he seems to be) the only one who possesses the moral code necessary to rise above the senseless violence and dishonesty of this world,” which is how Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers described the typical Mitchell hero.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Mitchell was a British writer who produced novels, short stories, plays and television scripts. He’s probably best remembered for his dark and often violent TV series Callan (1969-72) about a dour, conflicted (but deadly) British agent, eternally at war with the KGB, played by a pre-Equalizer Edward Woodward. The show spawned a series of novelizations, also by Mitchell. Under the James Munro pen name, he also wrote several books about John Craig, another violent but ethical British Intelligence. Mitchell was a true pro, and took his work quite seriously. In the same profile mentioned above, he reflected on his long and prolific career: “The writing of thrillers is a craft, and to be acknowledged as a craftsman would for me be more than adequate praise. The thriller writer’s skills are construction, characterisation. and the adroit use of language. This is obvious; it is also extremely difficult to achieve. I have been trying to achieve it in novels and TV plays for more than 20 years.”
NOVELS
- Sometimes You Could Die (1985) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Dead Ernest (1986) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Dying Day (1988) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to David H. Doerrer for the heads up on this one, and Post109 for the nudge.
