Alan Hunter (author)

Alan Hunter (25 June 1922 – 26 February 2005) was an English author of crime fiction. All of his 46 novels feature Inspector George Gently and are mainly set in East Anglia.

Initially a farmer, he became an antiquarian bookseller before writing his first novel.

Hunter was born at Hoveton, Norfolk and went to school across the River Bure in Wroxham. He left school at 14 and worked on his father's farm near Norwich. He enjoyed dinghy sailing on the Norfolk Broads, wrote natural history notes for the local newspaper, and wrote poetry, some of which was published while he was in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

He married, in 1944, Adelaide Cooper, who survives him with their daughter. After the war he managed the antiquarian books department of Charles Cubitt in Norwich. Four years later, in 1950, he established his own bookshop on Maddermarket in the city.

From 1955 until 1998 he published a Gently detective novel nearly every year. He retired to Brundall in Norfolk where he continued his interests in local history, natural history, and sailing.

In 2007 the BBC broadcast an adaptation of 'Gently Go Man' under the title George Gently. Two more stories, 'The Burning Man' (adapted from the book 'Gently Where the Roads Go') and 'Bomber's Moon' (adapted from the book of the same name), were broadcast by the BBC in July 2008. All three were written by Peter Flannery who is credited with creating the series for television. The role of George Gently is played by Martin Shaw. A second series (with the title expanded to Inspector George Gently) was broadcast in 2009, a third in 2010, a fourth in 2011, a fifth in 2012, a sixth in 2014 and a seventh in 2015. The series differs markedly from the books, being set in Northumberland and Durham rather than in Norfolk, and with different characters (other than the eponymous Gently).

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