British author Anthony Price, "whose string of espionage novels, rich in historical references and complex characters, drew comparisons to the work of John le Carré," died May 30, the New York Times reported. He was 90. His novel The Labyrinth Makers (1970) was the first of 19 books featuring David Audley, an analyst for the British secret service, who was often the protagonist but sometimes a secondary figure.
His books include Other Paths to Glory (1974), Sion Crossing (1984), Here Be Monsters (1986), A New Kind of War (1988) and The Memory Trap (1989). Although his novels "never became blockbusters, they did garner critical praise," the Times noted. His books were also the basis of a 1983 British television series, Chessgame, starring Terence Stamp as Audley, though Price dubbed the series "dreadful."
In the 1950s, he took a job at the Oxford Times, and by 1972 had worked his way up to editor, a position he held until he retired in 1988. Early in his career, he began writing book reviews for its sister publication, the Mail. Price "settled into a niche of reviewing crime fiction and military history, two areas of interest to him. After 10 or 12 years of this, an editor at the Victor Gollancz publishing house asked if he'd write a book about crime fiction. He declined, but asked if he might try writing a thriller instead, and that was how he became a novelist."
The Guardian wrote that as a cub reporter on the Oxford Times, Price had been asked if he would review a work that "was, he was told, 'only a children’s book but it’s by a local author.' The local author turned out to be a Professor J.R.R. Tolkien and the book was The Fellowship of the Ring. Price’s career as a reviewer was off to an auspicious start."
At one point after his retirement, there was "a plot masterminded by the Oxford don (and crime writer) Tim Binyon to lure Price into the wine cellars of Wadham College where other writers, including Colin Dexter and Michael Dibdin, would press him to return to the crime fiction fold," the Guardian noted. "The plot, perhaps fortunately for the college’s stock of claret, never materialized."