Desmond Bagley Biography and List of Works

British thriller writer, who gained world fame in the 1960s and published 16 popular adventure novels. On his rough, several years long trip from England to South Africa, Bagley gathered a colourful life experience that was highly useful later, when he started his career as a writer.

Desmond Bagley was born in Kendal, Westmoreland in England's Lake District. He spent his childhood in Blackpool and attended a variety of schools is Bolton and Blackpool. At the age of 14 Bagley left school and began his working life as a printer's devil, and changed then to a factory making plastic electrical fittings. Between the years 1940 to 1946 he worked in the aircraft industry. In 1947 Bagley started his long journey to South Africa by road. He crossed the Sahara, got work in Kampala Uganda, contracted malaria and worked his way down Africa, taking various jobs in asbestos and gold mines. While in Natal, Bagley developed his interest in journalism.

In the 1950s Bagley lived in South Africa, where he became a freelance journalist, working for the Broadcasting Company in Durban (1951-52), and writing film critiques for Randy Daily Mail in Johannesburg (1958-62). In 1960-61 he was a writer for Filmlets Ltd.

"I threw discretion to the winds. "There's over £1,500,000 in gold alone - and there's probably an equal amount in cut gem-stones. The gold alone means £300,000 for a fifth share and that's £6,000 each for your friends. If you count the jewels you can double those figures." Her eyes widened as she mentally computed this into lire. It was an astronomical calculation and took some time.
"So much," she whispered."
(from The Golden Keel)

In 1960 Bagley married Joan Margaret Brown. In the 1960s they lived in Italy and moved then in 1967 to Guernsey. Bagley's first book, THE GOLDEN KEEL, appeared in 1963 and become an immediate success. The novel was based supposedly on a true story. Bagley heard it in a bar in Johannesburg. During World War II Mussolini's vast personal treasures were moved from north in a German S.S. convoy. As the convoy neared the Ligurian coast, it vanished. An old sol4dier, named Walker, told Bagley that he really knew where Mussolini's missing gold was, and even suggested the idea of taking a yacht to the Mediterranean, and melting the gold down to make a golden keel. Around this coup Bagley spun a tale, where a successful Cape Town boat-builder designs an ocean-going yacht, sails to the Mediterranean, and tries with his companion to get the treasure out of Italy.

Like Hammond Innes , Alistair MacLean, and Geoffrey Jenkins, Bagley created fast moving stories with rich local colour, ranging from the jungles of South America to the interior of Iceland. The settings were international, and Bagley also offered detailed information for the readers from a variety of subjects, such as genetic engineering in THE ENEMY (1977), the behaviour of hurricanes in WYATT'S HURRICANE (1966), earth tremors in LANDSLIDE (1967), the Finnish way of life in THE TIGHTROPE MEN (1973), and avalanches in THE SNOW TIGER (1975). When not travelling in search of the background for his novel Bagley, devoted himself into sailing and motor-boating.

Bagley used in several novels first-person narrative, a suggestive method which draws the reader into the best lookout spot of the events. Reginald Hill has stated in his article in Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers, that '...as long as meticulous craftsmanship and honest entertainment are valued... Desmond Bagley's books will surely be read'. Bagley's career spanned two decades and his influence can be seen in the works of such highly acclaimed thriller writers as Ken Follet and Duncan Kyle, who published their first novels in the 1970s. From the younger generation writer's, the Guernsey based John Templeton Smith had the closest contact with Bagley; he was Smith's mentor in the late 1970s.

Bagley also wrote short stories. His last book, JUGGERNAUT (1984) was published posthumously, completed partly by his wife Joan Margaret. Bagley died on April 12, 1983 in Southampton. His works have been translated into some 20 languages.

"I don't like men who carry guns," said O'Hara shortly. "Especially men who could be communists." He looked around the cabin. "All right, are there any more jokers in the pack? What about you, Forester? You seem to know a hell of a lot about local politics for an American businessman."
"Don't be a damn fool," said Forester. "If I didn't take an interest in local politics my corporation would fire me..."
(from High Citadel)

Series character: Slade in Bagley's spy novels Running Blind (1970), The Freedom Trap (1971) - See also: Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers, ed. by John M. Reilly (second edition in 1985-) - Works by John Templeton Smith (has also published under the name John Smith): Skytrap, Patterson's Volunteers, Rolling Thunder, and The Fifth Freedom. White Lie, published in 1999, is the first part of a trilogy. The second book, SAIGON EXPRESS, is due out June 19, 2000. The final novel, THEN A SOLDIER, appears in 2001. The author is currently working on a 13-part television 'detective' series with the working title: THE INVESTIGATOR. With Donna Davison he is co-writing a series of Christmas novella's.

Short stories and essays:

THE GOLDEN KEEL, (1963)
HIGH CITADEL, (1965)
WYATT'S HURRICANE, (1966)
LANDSLIDE, (1967)
THE VIVERO LERRER, (1968)
THE SPOILERS, (1969)
RUNNING BLIND, (1970)
THE FREEDOM TRAP / THE MACINTOSH MAN, (1971)
THE TIGHTROPE MEN, (1973)
THE SNOW TIGER, (1975)
THE ENEMY, (1977)
FLYAWAY, (1978)
BAHAMA CRISIS, (1980)
WINDFALL, (1982)
NIGHT OF ERROR, (1983)
JUGGERNAUT, (1984)
My Old Man's Trumpet, published in Argosy, (1957)
A Matter of Mouths, publ. in Winter's Crimes 8, ed. by Hilary Watson, (1976)
The Circumstances Surrounding the Crime, publ. in I, Witness: True Personal Encounters with Crime by Members of the Mystery Writers of America, (1978)