FAQtory

What is the Raymond Revuebar?

The Raymond Revuebar was an adult entertainment institution established by the late Paul Raymond and based on Brewer Street in Soho (the first legal one to operate in England.) It closed in 2004, its eponymous owner following suit in 2008.

This Raymond Revuebar is a site devoted to the English noir writer Robin Cook (1931-1994), who wrote as Derek Raymond from 1984 onwards. The name was suggested as both “appropriate” and likely to have been appreciated by the man himself.

Is Robin Cook the same one who wrote all those airport novels?

No. And nor was he “the bloody shadow minister for health, come to that.”

Is there an official Derek Raymond website?

No, though there is a remarkably comprehensive tribute site. His most recent publisher Serpent’s Tail also have an entry on him on their site and you can find a number of other writers very much influenced by him there as well.

We only have your word for it, so how do we know if he was any good or not?

He was ranked 30th in The Times‘ 50 Greatest Crime Writers in 2008. The Telegraph gave him similar honours too.

Which Derek Raymond novels would you recommend to the uninitiated?

The man’s output spanned 40 years on and off, but as a basic jumping off point, start with the Factory series (He Died With His Eyes Open, The Devil’s Home On Leave, How The Dead Live and I Was Dora Suarez, in that order.)

How can dim researchers for TV producers making cack nostalgia shows get in touch with Derek Raymond for an appearance?

They can’t, he’s dead.

OK then, anyone else for that matter?

Raymond’s literary executor is crime writer John Williams, who can be contacted via his publisher Serpent’s Tail.