With his early novels, especially The Ipcress File and Funeral in Berlin, Len Deighton established himself as one of the mainstays of modern espionage fiction. He is often ranked--along with Graham Greene, John le Carre, and Ian Fleming--among the foremost writers in the field. Deighton shows a painstaking attention to accuracy in depicting espionage activities, and in his early novels this realism was combined with a light ironic touch that sets his work apart. Deighton, David Quammen remarked in the New York Times Book Review, is "a talented, droll and original spy novelist."

Born in London, England, in 1929, Deighton worked a series of jobs before becoming a writer. He was a railway lengthman, an assistant pastry cook at the Royal Festival Hall, a manager of a gown factory, a waiter, an advertising man, a teacher, a co-proprietor of a glossy magazine, a magazine artist, a news photographer, and...