Patrick Alexander (writer)

Patrick Alexander (1926 – 1997 or 2003) was a British novelist, thriller writer, journalist and screenwriter.
His novel "Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal" won the Crime Writers' Association "John Creasey Memorial Award" and was filmed in 1981 as Le Professionnel starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. Stephen Hunter admits that Alexander's novel inspired his own novel "Dead Zero" and questions where the inspiration ends and the theft of Alexander's idea begins.
Alexander was a chess fanatic; people in his novels often share his enthusiasm for the game. "Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal" features a "considerable description of a tournament" that chess player Stewart Reuben had organised.