Trevanian is the pseudonym for Rodney Whitaker. Under Trevanian he wrote marvelously deadpan and sly send-ups of one genre or another. Trevanian perhaps the most well known for the three spy stories wrote five best-sellers, and sold over 5 million books without making a publicity appearance, or dropping the pretense of being an individual vs. a pseudonym. Trevanian even gave out hints about how his personal (made up) history aligned with some of the places that influence his books.