Anthony, Evelyn

(British, 1928– )

Anthony was born in London and became a professional author in 1949. Imperial Highness (1953), an account of Catherine the Great, and Victoria (1959) are the best of her early historical novels, which have straightforwardly factual narratives. Her subsequent fictional adaptations of history include Anne of Austria (1968), recounting the marriage of a Hapsburg princess to France's homosexual Louis XIII. Her later works are chiefly contemporary thrillers. The Poellenberg Inheritance (1972) concerns the intrigues surrounding an art treasure in the hands of a former Nazi general. Two disaffected British women, one an embittered intelligence agent, the other close to the US President, pose security risks in The Avenue of the Dead (1981). Exposure (1993), set in the world of international publishing, is the story of a journalist who discovers blackmail and war crimes behind her boss's hatred of his arch-rival.

Jean Plaidy (writing as Victoria Holt), Clare Francis, Len Deighton  DH