Arthur Simpson is a petty thief who is discovered stealing from a hotel
room. His victim, however, turns out to be a criminal in a league well
above his own and Simpson is blackmailed into smuggling arms into Turkey
for use in a major jewel robbery. The Turkish police, however, discover
the arms and he is further 'blackmailed' by them into spying on the
'gang'--or rot in a Turkish jail. However, agreeing to help brings even
worse danger...
Eric Ambler was born into a family of entertainers and in his early
years helped out as a puppeteer. However, he initially chose engineering
as a full time career, although this quickly gave way to writing. In
World War II he entered the army and looked likely to fight in the line,
but was soon after commissioned and ended the war as assistant director
of the army film unit and a Lieutenant-Colonel. This experience
translated into civilian life and Ambler had a very successful career as
a screen writer, receiving an Academy Award for his work on The Cruel
Sea by Nicolas Monsarrat in 1953. Many of his own works have been
filmed, the most famous probably being Light of Day, filmed as
Topkapi under which title it is now published. He established a
reputation as a thriller writer of extraordinary depth and originality
and received many other accolades during his lifetime, including two
Edgar Awards from The Mystery Writers of America (best novel for
Topkapi and best biographical work for Here Lies Eric Ambler), and
two Gold Dagger Awards from the Crime Writer's Association (Passage of
Arms and The Levanter). Often credited as being the inventor of the
modern political thriller, John Le Carre once described Ambler as 'the
source on which we all draw.' A recurring theme in his works is the
success of the well meaning yet somewhat bungling amateur who triumphs
in the face of both adversity and hardened professionals. Ambler wrote
under his own name and also during the 1950's a series of novels as
Eliot Reed, with Charles Rhodda. These are now published under the
'Ambler' umbrella.
