IAN MACKINTOSH

   A week or so ago thriller writer Ian Mackintosh was mentioned in one of the Addenda updates to Al Hubin’s Crime Fiction IV. A correction was made to the spelling of his name, from MacKintosh to Mackintosh. A minor matter, perhaps, but some of us care. There is, after all, a difference between John D. MacDonald and Ross Macdonald, and how they spelled their respective names.

   The matter was settled, I thought, since on all of the covers of Mr. Mackintosh’s books that I’ve been able to locate so far, that is the way his name’s been spelled. But UK mystery bookseller Jamie Sturgeon has sharp eyes. He has an inscribed copy of one of the author’s books — see above — and while I am right and his name is spelled Mackintosh on the cover, lo and behold, he spelled his name MacKintosh in the inscription.

   Take a look and see if you don’t agree:

IAN MACKINTOSH



[UPDATE.]   Later the same afternoon. Al Hubin points out that: “On the other hand, as I recall, Ian’s brother has a web page for him and there it’s Mackintosh … I think I’ll stick with the name as presented on his books.”

   The web page that Al refers to [follow the link above] is worth your time looking into. Ian’s brother Lawrie talks about not only Ian’s early life and his work for the BBC, but also Ian’s mysterious disappearance over the Kodiak Islands in July 1979.