Peter Cheyney

Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney (22 February 1896 – 26 June 1951) — known as Peter Cheyney — was a British crime fiction writer who flourished between 1936 and 1951. Cheyney is the author of hard-boiled short stories and novels in the American style, some of which were adapted to film; his character Lemmy Caution was famously appropriated by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard for the science fiction movie Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution.

His other memorable creation is Slim Callaghan, a somewhat disreputable private detective most at home in the less savoury sections of London. Although Cheyney's novels sold in the millions during his lifetime, he is almost forgotten today, and his works are mostly out of print.