Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens

rdf:langString Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens

rdf:langString Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens are fictional counter-intelligence agents created by the British mystery and thriller writer Michael Gilbert. The characters appear in 24 short stories, most of which first appeared in either the British magazine Argosy or the American Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The stories were collected in two anthologies, Game without Rules (1967) and Mr. Calder & Mr. Behrens (1982). One story, "Double, Double", was later republished in an Ellery Queen paperback. Many involve finding and dealing with British traitors or deeply embedded foreign agents; a few take place in Europe; one particularly grim one is set in World War II, during which Mr. Behrens is the bomb-maker in a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The characters also appeared in 16 BBC radio plays, largely based on the short stories. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award.