If this is a man: No one has the right to rob the voiceless of a voice

A GROUP of friends of mine got together a while ago and invested money we didn’t have to make a pilot TV programme that didn’t sell. But, because the programme was about bestsellers, we got to meet famous writers.

Best of all, we got to meet Ed McBain.

Ed McBain, creator of the phenomenally successful 87th Precinct series of police procedurals. More than 50 of them. Ed McBain, the modern Graham Greene, writes 'entertainments' but also (as Evan Hunter) serious literature, starting with The BlackBoard Jungle when he was in his 20s.