In October 1953, Time magazine hired a private detective to shadow Dylan Thomas during what turned out to be his last visit to New York City. Dylan had taken out a libel suit against Time because of a less-than-flattering profile the magazine had published about him some months before. Time intended to use any new material gathered by the detective to defend its portrait of Dylan who, they alleged: ''... argues like a Bolshevik, dresses like a bum... drinks like a culvert... smokes like an ad for cancer... sleeps with any woman who is willing... borrows with no thought of returning is lent... seldom shows up on time, is a trial to his friends and a worry to his family...''

In The Poet and the Private Eye these two men are placed centre stage.

This is Rob Gittins''s second novel. He is an extremely able and experienced writer and has written for almost every top-rated network UK TV shows including Casualty, The Bill, Emmerdale, Heartbeat, Soldier Soldier and The Story of Tracy Beaker. He''s a part of the core writing team of EastEnders and has written more than 200 episodes of the programme and is now the longest-serving writer on the soap.