Mike Ripley has twice won the Crime Writers' Association's Last Laugh Award, and is the author of twenty-four comedy thrillers and historical novels. He writes a hugely respected monthly review column for Shots Magazine entitled Getting Away With Murder and is also the author of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a 'reader's history' of the heyday of British action and spy thrillers, 1953-75, which won the H.R.F. Keating Award for non-fiction in 2017. With Mr Campion's Farewell (Severn House, 2014 and Black Thorn, 2019), he completed a manuscript left unfinished in 1969 by Margery Allingham's widower, Pip Youngman Carter. He regards the follow-ups including Mr Campion's War, Mr Campion's Visit and Mr Campion's S¿ance as his attempts 'to fly solo with, and do justice to, a great fictional character'.