Most of you will probably never have heard of Lionel Davidson, who died a few days ago aged 87, and that's a shame, because he was an absolutely cracking writer. His last novel, Kolymsky Heights, is far and away one of the best thrillers I've ever read. It seems to me that, though his fans and the critics were well-aware of his considerable strengths as a writer, he never received the success and public acclaim he deserved. But he was very, very, very good.