Book description
Young Nicholas Whistler, dissolute and disillusioned, lives a life
of dull monotony in London. Caught up in a petty money-lenders
dispute, he finds himself sent to Prague to discharge the debt by
carrying out a simple assignment. But this business trip will soon
drag him deep into the dangerous world of Cold War espionage and the
battle for atomic supremacy. Trapped between the secret police and the
amorous clutches of the mysterious and statuesque Vlasta, Nicholas
must face the fact that now he is a spy, whether he likes it or not.
The Night of Wenceslas, Lionel Davidson's debut thriller, was an
instant and massive success upon publication in 1960. Its taut prose
and masterful plot pushed him to the front ranks of the genre. It was
described by the New Yorker as 'so enriched with style, wit, and a
sense of serious comedy that it all but transcends its kind' and by
Newsweek as 'downright superb.' Awarded the Gold Dagger Award by the
Crime Writers' Association, it was subsequently filmed as 'Hot Enough
For June' starring Dirk Bogarde.
Lionel Davidson was born in 1922 in Hull, Yorkshire. He left school
early and worked as a reporter before serving in the Royal Navy during
World War II. His first novel, The Night of Wenceslas, was published in
1960 to great critical acclaim and drew comparisons to Graham Greene and
John le Carré. It was followed by The Rose of Tibet (1962), A Long Way
to Shiloh (1966) and The Chelsea Murders (1978). He has thrice been the
recipient of the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger Award and, in
2001, was awarded the CWAÂ s Cartier Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement
award.
