W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM

Though he was born and died in France, W. Somerset Maugham was a British novelist, playwright, and short story author around the turn of the 20th Century and thereafter. He is considered one of the finest writers from that period if not the best and his critical and financial success from his large volume of work speaks strongly to that. He is considered by many, including myself, to be the Father of the Spy Series having created the first known recurring covert operative in fiction, Ashenden.