The Predicament

This novel by William Boyd is the second of his "Gabriel Dax" series about a reluctant spy. Dax is, by profession, a travel writer with several published books to his credit and just about to finish another one called Rivers. Somehow--and one would ostensibly have to go back to the beginning of the series (Gabriel's Moon) to find out the origins of this situation --he has become an occasional spy for MI6 and a double agent for the Russians. Reviews are glowing and Booklist gushes "...this John Le Carré-esque Cold War thriller is something rare--a sequel that surpasses the original. Full of wry humor, this is a compelling novel full of intrigue..."

Dax's profession allows him to travel without suspicion and he is sent first to Guatemala to report on an up and coming labor leader who is expected to become the next President--until he gets assassinated right after Dax's abortive interview with him.  Dax feels he's been set up by the CIA and, to top it off, he gets attacked and stabbed for his trouble. After recovering, he is sent to Berlin to keep an eye on a man suspected of plotting an assassination of John F. Kennedy who is coming for a week-long state visit. Dax manages to "... thwart disaster via a string of accidentally heroic acts inspired by his instincts as a writer. Readers will be charmed by Dax's tendency to fail upward, and Boyd smoothly incorporates real history into his wildly entertaining plot. This is a treat" (Publishers Weekly).  Kirkus concludes their positive review by saying "A thriller that's always in motion but, unlike its hero, always knows where it's going."

The Traitor

This is the 2nd book from Ava Glass featuring MI6 operative Emma Makepeace ( see my post for the previous book, Alias Emma). When an MI6 agent is found dead and stuffed in a suitcase, Emma is sent in undercover to see who was behind it. She will be working on a yacht out of the country--out of any country--without backup but she is willing to take the risk. When her cover is blown, Emma is sure that the leak was from within and that leaves her not knowing who to trust. She almost has one of the major players in hand when she is kidnapped and it's clear she will be killed. But she is rescued by a colleague and once again sent undercover, at her insistence, to try and trap the person pulling the strings. Glass creates a tight timeline in a tightly bound plot and her characters are well developed. You'll guess who the betrayer is before it's revealed but the book will still keep you engaged until the end. 

Publishers Weekly calls it a "gripping sequel" and gushes in their conclusion:  "Enriching the narrative with meticulous spycraft, sound character development, and exquisitely realized settings, Glass has delivered an un-put-downable winner." The Washington Post says the book "delivers everything fans of spy fiction could want: an absorbing plot, shadowy characters, page-gripping tension..." and goes on to say "Glass’s prose is crisp but never lazy, the descriptions telling without being overwhelming." They also praise the protagonist and overall character development:  Glass "has crafted such a wonderful character in Emma. She’s mission-oriented but vulnerable. Loyal yet informed by past experiences of the dangers of nationalism. Pragmatic and compassionate...Side characters, such as the oligarch’s girlfriends and bodyguards, as well as the agency staff supporting Emma’s mission, are fully formed."

The Seventh Floor

The title of this book by David McCloskey refers to the executive offices of the CIA's Langley facility.  From the book jacket: "Six CIA officers. Dear friends and cherished enemies. For a quarter century they have stolen other people's secrets. Now they must steal each other's. A Russian arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, operational chief Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat for the disaster and run out of the service. Months later, Sam appears at Procter's doorstep with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole burrowed deep within the highest ranks of the CIA. As Procter and Sam investigate, they arrive at a shortlist of suspects made up of both Procter's closest friends and fiercest enemies. The hunt requires Procter to dredge up her checkered past in the service of the CIA, placing the pair in the sights of a savvy Russian spymaster who will protect Moscow's mole in Langley at all costs."

Really good pacing, complex main character--Artemis Proctor, and written by a former CIA analyst who "layers the novel with the inside details of tradecraft that only a writer of his background could provide" (Publishers Weekly). PW provided a very lukewarm review; they like the 2 previous novels better, Moscow X and Damascus Station. Enjoyable read if you like  espionage thrillers, and I do.

The White Lady

I have read several of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series, but this is a stand-alone novel, also historically set in the WWI and WWII eras.  The protagonist is Elinor White who was just 12 years old when the Germans invaded her home country of Belgium. Yet she and her 15-year-old sister Cecily were recruited by the mysterious Isabelle to watch and report on German train and troop movements. Eventually they were trained to defend themselves, including the use of knives, guns, and sharpened pencils--although Cecily demurred from firearms training. Assigned a more dangerous mission--to move explosives onto a train track--things went horribly awry when they encountered two German soldiers and Elinor killed them to prevent Cecily being raped. The girls and their mother were smuggled out of Belgium to their mother's former home in England. Elinor was again recruited during WWII to work behind enemy lines. Today, in 1947, she lives a quiet, if hyper-vigilant, life in a "grace and favour" house outside the rural Kent village of Shacklehurst. Normally reclusive, Elinor comes to know the nearby farm worker's family on her daily walks--Rose, Jim and their toddler daughter Susie. Horrible memories from her war work are re-activated by Susie and Elinor's protective instincts kick into high gear when Jim's brothers--London gangsters--beat Jim and threaten Rose and Susie. Jim and Rose tried to escape his family's criminal empire by moving to the country, but they've been found and threatened with harm if Jim does not return to help them with a big job. Elinor is determined to see that does not happen and she brings to bear all of her cunning, wartime contacts, and lethal skills to keep the little family safe.

Excellently written, with chapters switching back in time to describe Elinor's work in the two wars, the reader will feel Elinor's struggles and triumphs. The various time periods are well-captured and characters are very believable. Library Journal recommends with this conclusion: the author "skillfully juggles three timelines in a riveting stand-alone about a woman whose wartime experiences overshadow her post-war retirement." Whereas, Booklist focuses on the protagonist in their praise: "The real strength of the novel,... lies in the poignant and beautifully written backstory of Elinor's childhood in war-torn Belgium and her personal losses in a devastated London. Winspear is an absolute master of the character-driven thriller, and although fans will wish for more of Elinor, they will reluctantly agree that she has earned some peace." Publishers Weekly calls this a "smart, nuanced mystery" and agrees that "The chapters illuminating Elinor’s dramatic backstory add vulnerability to her characterization, enriching the suspenseful main narrative."  Kirkus Reviews offers their  assessment: a "tense history-based thriller filled with anguish and suspense... [a] "poignant story of courage, misogyny, and misused power..."

Two Times Murder: A Quiet Teacher Mystery

Never read anything by Adam Oyebanji, but who can resist a book where the author description on the back cover says, "was born in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire. He recently took the big step of moving east to Edinburgh by way of Birmingham, London, Lagos, Chicago, Pittsburgh and New York: a necessary detour, because the traffic otherwise is really, really bad. A graduate of Birmingham University and Harvard Law School, Adam works in the field of counter-terrorist financing, helping banks choke off the money supply to rogue states, narcotics empires, and human trafficking networks."

Moreover, the cover description of the protagonist is this, "Greg Abimbola is many things. He's Black, British and fluent in Russian. He's a snappy dresser, a reasonable teacher, and an unenthusiastic sports fan. But most of all, he's exceptional at keeping secrets. Like, who he really is, and the things he's done." Abimbola is a Russian--and occasionally French--language teacher at a private boys' school in Pittsburgh. He has been relocated there under the Witness Protection Program, but he has recently been found by a Russian agent and who knows where that will lead--probably to hell, he figures, given his background. This is the 2nd book in his "A Quiet Teacher" series and previously he defended an assistant janitor at the school in a murder case by finding the actual culprit. She is a computer whiz and forever in his debt, which is good, because he's a total Luddite when it comes to anything technical. When the police come calling to ask for his assistance in identifying a murdered man pulled out of the river, he is reluctant as he may actually know too much about the victim. But his discovery by Russian agents and then a seemingly unrelated 2nd murder pull him inexorably into the investigations.

Publishers Weekly offers these observations: "Oyebanji...serves up a fun if far-fetched second thriller featuring spy--turned... teacher Greg Abimbola. ...Greg remains a unique and appealing protagonist--a Black Russian with a keen eye for detail and conflicted feelings about his homosexuality--and Oyebanji utilizes him well, especially when Greg explains his deductions like a 21st-century Miss Marple. The plot's locked-room mystery and espionage thriller elements make uneasy bedfellows, however..."

Kirkus is more unreservedly praiseworthy: "as in Abimbola’s first foray into detection proved in A Quiet Teacher (2022), his code of honor makes it impossible for him turn his back on those who need him. Oyebanji makes the unimaginable not only credible but compelling by exposing Abimbola’s rich inner life and setting it against the struggles of those who rely on him for help, most of whom can’t get out of their own way, but nevertheless command readers’ sympathy for their challenges. Oyebanji’s puzzles are well-crafted and his solutions ingenious, leaving readers with both a sense of satisfaction and an appetite for more. Not to be missed."

Booklist says, "It's a pleasure to watch the deductive razzmatazz, but readers can't forget that dying can hurt: amidst the drama is a solemn moment of discovery where we get to see the heart's behavior during the fall, impact, and death. The first novel of the series was presented, and received, as a mix of John le Carré and Agatha Christie, and now Oyebanji adds some Arthur Conan Doyle into the mix."

The Sparrow and the Peacock

This book won an Edgar for "Best First Novel by an American Author" and was on the best book of the year lists for NPR and The New Yorker. Author "I.S. Berry spent six years as an operations officer for the CIA, serving in wartime Baghdad and elsewhere. She has lived and worked throughout Europe and the Middle East, including two years in Bahrain during the Arab Spring" (author's website). 

Here is the laudatory review from Publishers Weekly with a brief plot summary. "Berry's stint as a CIA officer lends a palpable veracity to this outstanding debut thriller. In 2012, 52-year-old CIA veteran Shane Collins is assigned to Bahrain's capital city of Manama during the Arab Spring uprisings there. His career is circling the drain, but his young station chief, Whitney Mitchell, is a star on the rise. In order to collect information that proves Iran is fueling the local revolution, Collins has riskily embedded a local agent in a volatile rebel group. Then Collins attends a gala where he's struck by a massive mosaic and again by the beautiful artist who created it, Almaisa. Shane begins a lengthy pursuit of Almaisa, and before long, he's juggling new love, a budding conscience about his work, and bloody complications with his revolutionary informant. The plot's many twists will captivate readers, and Berry's gorgeous prose is its own reward, with echoes of Le Carré and Graham Greene..."

I wasn't engrossed in the book, not the plot, not the characters. But the author certainly captures the setting well and offers insights into procedural espionage tactics to a greater degree than in most spy novels.

Alias Emma

Ava Glass is a pseudonym but she does, nevertheless, have a website.  Christi Daugherty (her real name) also has one. There are already two sequels published in the series: The Traitor and The Trap.
The review and plot summary from Library Journal are more than adequate. 

"Glass (the pseudonym for an already internationally best-selling novelist) introduces Emma Makepeace, a new-era British spy whose quintessentially English alias facilitates blending into London, the most surveilled city in Europe. In the last two weeks, four government-protected Russian scientists were publicly assassinated with the efficiency and audacity of the Russian military spy agency GRU. The message: GRU knows the locations of dissidents in London and can strike with impunity. Unless the Agency intervenes, GRU will attack another set of scientists, planning to kidnap their son, Michael, to draw them out of hiding. Emma must make contact with Michael, convince him to accept protection, and deliver him to Agency headquarters--no easy task. Once on the run, this duo must cross London unseen by the Ring of Steel of CCTV cameras, now in the hands of GRU hackers. For 12 hours, Emma leads Michael through alleys, sewer tunnels, and back channels that don't appear in any guide book. The 12-hour time line propels the narrative. VERDICT Perfect for a single-sitting read, Glass's thriller (the first in a planned series) is an adrenaline-fueled tour of clandestine London. What's next for Emma Makepeace? More, please."

Publishers Weekly calls the book a "superb debut" and concludes their review by saying, "Intense, cinematic action propels this terrific old-fashioned thriller neatly brought up to date. Glass is off to an impressive start." The Washington Post praises it as "a fast-paced thriller in the spirit of Ian Fleming, with a very modern twist." The Guardian concurs. "Emma is an appealing character, smart and resourceful, and Glass deftly works her backstory into this high-octane, warp-speed thriller without missing a beat. Suspend disbelief and enjoy."

The Helsinki Affair

Set in relatively contemporary times, with regular flashbacks to the Cold War era, Anna Pitoniak has achieved a really engrossing and complex tale of espionage and betrayal.  Protagonist Amanda Cole is 2nd in command of the CIA station in Rome when she receives intel that a prominent American senator is going to be assassinated in Egypt the following day. In his typically dismissive way, her boss ignores the warning and the consequent death of the senator results in his early retirement and Amanda's promotion to station chief. She nurtures the relationship with the disaffected Russian bureaucrat who brought her the intel and sets up the usual channels for him to pass along anything of note. Anna returns briefly to Washington, D.C. for Senator Vogel's funeral. In the interim, the senator's aide brings a folder of notes to Amanda's father, Charlie Cole, who is still in the CIA though now in public relations, demoted after his post in Helsinki during the Cold War. He passes this information to Amanda, who is disturbed to find her father's name written on the last page of the notes. He asks to be left out of her investigation but expects she won't. 

Amanda teams up with a senior female agent, Kath Frost, to find out why the senator was killed and what role her father's past plays. The chapters on Charlie Cole's years at the Helsinki station slowly reveal the fateful events that catalyzed his downfall, but the ending will be a surprise.

Kirkus says of these two women characters: "The developing mentorship and friendship between Amanda and Kath as well as the unfolding of the Cole family’s unhappy past give the novel emotional weight and interest that add to its espionage plot. These excellent female spy characters deserve a series." Library Journal praises, " Pitoniak does everything well in this twisty spy thriller that should please the most discriminating connoisseur of the genre." The Washington Post also lauds Pitoniak for providing espionage lovers with capable female protagonists: "The novel, Pitoniak’s fourth, is atmospheric, well-researched, and packed with tradecraft, conspiracies, murder and, best of all, two fascinating women — Amanda Cole and Kath Frost, hard-nosed CIA agents who thrive on chaos and who are often smarter than their male counterparts."

A Woman I Know: Female Spies, Double Identities, and a New Story of the Kennedy Assassination.

Written by Mary Haverstick, "a film director, writer, and cinematographer" (book jacket), this non-fiction book is--if nothing else--a remarkable piece of research strething over several years and requiring dozens if not hundreds of FOIA requests. The book has over 80 pages of notes documenting her sources. What started out to be a documentary on the first woman to pass all the astronauts tests at NASA, it evolved into an in-depth examination of a woman who lived multiple lives within the CIA. I cede the floor to Kirkus for a summary of the book:

"A cat-and-mouse search for a woman’s identity opens onto a shadowy corner of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Filmmaker Haverstick’s title is ironic, for the woman in question—Jerrie Cobb—is essentially unknowable. An unsung participant in NASA’s Mercury program, she was trained as an astronaut along with a dozen other women volunteers: “She’d been the first to ace the physical exams and had then gone on to tackle flight simulators, endurance tests, and spatial orientation studies, something the others hadn’t done.” When NASA scrubbed the women’s program, deeming men alone to be potential astronaut material, Cobb faded into the woodwork. Not quite: She logged time in Cuba as a supposed confidant of Fidel Castro, turned up in Mexico at the same time as Lee Harvey Oswald, explored the headwaters of the Amazon and advocated for its Indigenous peoples, spoke Spanish fluently—and was a CIA agent. Or was she? Cobb, a skilled pilot, was also on the tarmac at the Dallas airport as Oswald was making his way there, apparently to be transported elsewhere. Complicating the picture is a chain of false identities, pseudonyms, and the possible existence of another woman of the same skill set and physical appearance named June Cobb. “If Jerrie’s life was intertwined with June Cobb’s as a CIA cover,” writes the author, “then Lee Harvey Oswald was a covert player in intelligence, too.” Haverstick takes a few speculative steps into the engineers of the assassination—maybe Castro, maybe the Mafia, maybe renegade intelligence insiders. No definitive answer emerges, of course, but meanwhile, Jerrie Cobb’s fascinating life reveals her to be “a spy, an explorer, a gambler, an astronaut, an illusionist, a narcissist, and a con”—and, to say the least, a puzzle.

Assassination buffs and students of spycraft will find this intriguing and endlessly enigmatic." 

The New York Times opens their review this way: "In 'A Woman I Know,' Mary Haverstick discovers that the subject of her documentary may have once been a key player in Cold War espionage. Near the beginning of her new book, Mary Haverstick quotes James Angleton, the head of the C.I.A.’s counterintelligence division during the Cold War. Angleton described the world of spycraft as a 'wilderness of mirrors,' where no one could be trusted and nothing was quite what it seemed." And they conclude, "As a fresh history of U.S. espionage, “A Woman I Know” is an absorbing read. As a smoking-gun investigation into the Kennedy murder, it’s less convincing. Even Haverstick admits that, after years spent in the wilderness of mirrors, she still wasn’t sure what to believe. Of Jerrie Cobb’s life story — or stories — Haverstick writes: 'She has still eluded me.'"

Modesty Blaise

This book was recommended by an author who said it had been one of the major influences on her writing. Peter O'Donnell began writing this series in the mid-60's based on a comic strip he scripted from 1963 until 2001. It was at about the same time that Ian Fleming introduced the world to James Bond. Modesty is like a female version of James Bond but comes from a very different background. Orphaned at a young age and scratching out a living in the Middle East doing whatever would put food in her mouth made her tough. As she got older, she began using her intelligence and beauty to manipulate those with power until she became powerful in her own right--as a criminal boss with "employees" all over the world. I bought the 50th anniversary reprint of the first in the series of 13 books featuring Modesty and her loyal lieutenant, Willie Garvin. Modesty has technically retired from the "business" after attaining enough money to live on the rest of her life in the style to which she had become accustomed. But she is pressured into undertaking an assignment for British Intelligence when they tell her that Willie has been caught and is imprisoned by rebels in some unnamed country, where is due to be executed. Complete with gadgets, car chases and glamour, this series has been called "seminal" in British crime novels (Crime Time). Several movies were made based on his books and although O'Donnell never had a website, there is an authorized site, https://www.modestyblaiseltd.com/, which expands on his work. There is a more detailed "biography" of Modesty in Wikipedia. A list of the Modesty Blaise books, in order, is here.

Three-Edged Sword

Jeff Lindsay, who wrote the Dexter series, has also created a series featuring Riley Wolfe, who considers himself to be the "world's best thief"--the harder the challenge, the more Riley wants to try and steal it. This is the 3rd installment in that series and, although this book can certainly stand alone, there would be some benefits to reading the 2 previous books to better understand the relationship dynamics between Riley and his partner, art forger extraordinaire Monique, who now lies in a coma. She is the only person Riley cares about besides his mother, who has been in a coma and on life support for years. Riley is rich and can afford to keep then alive and he continues his career of crime just for the fun of it. When he is kidnapped by a ruthless CIA team leader, however, he is not amused. Chase Prescott wants Riley to steal a thumb-drive containing top secret information from a Russian spy who has taken refuge in an out-of-service lighthouse off the coast of Lithuania that now houses his extensive art and documents collections. To ensure Riley's cooperation, Prescott has also kidnapped Monique and Riley's mother. Riley thrives on challenge but not on endangering his loved-ones, especially when their captor would do anything to get what he wants.

Publishers Weekly offers a lukewarm endorsement. "The efforts of FBI agent Frank Delgado and his hacker sidekick, Miranda Shaleki, to locate Wolfe's mother add to the suspense, and the tip of the cap to Edgar Allan Poe at the climax is effectively chilling, but the constant switches in point of view chop up the narrative flow, and the chapters involving Monique distract from the main plotline." Kirkus is more positive, saying: "Lindsay supplies an effortless, weightless supply of complications apparently designed to keep the overscaled enterprise, which has a lot more than three edges, from shutting down too soon. The result is a perfect beach read for anyone bound for the islands of Lithuania."

The Apollo Murders

Written by former Canadian astronaut and one-time commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield, this thriller is set during the Cold War space race of the 1970's between Russia and the United States. It is full of interesting technical details about planes, rockets, space capsules and manned flight operations.  It includes lots of real people, places and events and an author's note clarifies what is fiction. Hadfield also worked as CAPCOM--capsule communicator--for 25 shuttle missions and as NASA's director of operations in Russia, so he has both front line and administrative experience with the U.S. and Russian programs. It is a wide ranging story with asides about people who salvage discarded rockets in Russia to support their families, the origins of the universe, and the horror of motion sickness induced vomiting inside an enclosed space suit. The premise is that the Russians have launched a new space station with enormously enhanced spy capabilities that would impinge on the secrecy of U.S. space efforts--i.e., creates a threat to "U.S. security." The final (fictional) Apollo 18 moonshot is re-tasked to investigate and disable the station in earth orbit before cosmonauts can be sent up to retrieve pictures. The astronauts on this mission are all former military. Additionally, the final destination on the moon is altered to land near a Russian moon rover to find out why the Russians are exploring that particular spot. The real drama arises even before blast off when the mission's commander is killed in a helicopter crash that turns out to be sabotage. I literally had a hard time putting this book down at many points. I thought the ending was a little abrupt and The New Scientist said, "the story comes across as improbable but not implausible." It still made for a compelling read. Kirkus criticizes the amount of technical detail in the early chapter but concludes, "Space nerds will geek out, and everyone else eventually gets a pretty good ride." Publishers Weekly, however, feels the details are important; "His mastery of the details enables him to generate high levels of tension from just a description of a welding error, which cascades into something significant. This is an intelligent and surprising nail-biter..."

The New Girl

I always enjoy Daniel Silva's "Gabriel Allon" series books. I have dipped in at the beginning of the series (e.g., The Kill Artist), and also towards the end (The Order, The English Girl).This installment was published in 2019 so there were 20 that preceded it and 3 more since; he has another coming out this summer (2022). No matter where you start, the plots are always fast-paced and compelling and the characters well developed. As with others, this one is taken from recent headlines as a 12-year old girl at an elite private Swiss school goes missing and her father turns out to be none other than the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Although the prince is a pariah in the media for the brutal murder of a journalist, and although he is a sworn enemy of Israel, Gabriel is convinced to take the case because he finds the crime so horrific and because, when push comes to shove, the Prince is a better alternative than the rest of the royal family. The Prince (KBM in this fictionalized account) eventually receives a demand to step down and remove himself from the next-in-line-to-the-throne spot or face the death of his daughter. Gabriel re-activates an American woman, Sarah Bancroft, a former CIA agent and now museum curator at MOMA, who is rumored to be KBM's private and secret art broker. Other characters from past books, along with their relationships to one another are important players here and one could justifiably feel one is missing background and context, but I didn't think it detracted significantly from the story.

Kirkus seems to think that Gabriel Allon is approaching the end of his literary usefulness as a protagonist. The New York Journal of Books proclaims it is "a decent spy story and little more...a story of international intrigue, fast cars, boats, planes, and high body counts." In contrast, Publishers Weekly concludes, "Silva delivers sharply drawn characters, a complex plot, and vivid backgrounds that add to the book’s realism, even if at times Allon’s own abilities seem too good to be true. Series fans will find plenty to like, and this is an excellent introduction for new readers." If you're seeking an escape from the woes of the world, read it and decide for yourself.

Silverview

This novel by John Le Carré was published posthumously by his youngest son, Nick Cornwell, with--according to him--only minor editing required. It is a short but evocative story of the disillusionment of one former agent of MI6 who turns his back on country rather than on his ideals. Former City financier, Julian Lawndsley, has left the hustle and purchased a small book shop in an East Anglian seaside town, even though he knows absolutely nothing about the business. He is seemingly rescued by one of the town's residents, Edward Avon, who browses but doesn't buy, but offers up the idea of converting the basement to a literary haven, which would stock all the writers and philosophers who are not the usual bookshop fare. Edward, a Polish emigre, lives with his wife, who is dying of cancer, in the manse Silverview, just outside of town.

Meanwhile, when the head of security for MI6, Stewart Proctor, receives a note from a former agent warning of an intelligence leak, his queries lead him to this same quiet town and to Julian. 

The reviews tend to focus on Le Carré's career as a whole but do offer some specifics about this final work. According to The Guardian, "Silverview has three outstanding set pieces, any one of which more than outweighs weaknesses of plot. Proctor’s interrogation of two retired colleagues, in which Edward Avon’s history is anatomised, is le Carré at his finest, revealing character and backstory through dialogue with an economy and grace beyond most writers. The service funeral is pure social comedy...reminding us that no one was better at showing that spies are just like everyone else. And then there’s Proctor’s visit to a classified outpost...here the conversational duelling is as exciting as a car chase...Because chaps, surely, are le Carré’s subject, here as always; chaps and the loyalties they inspire, the causes they embrace, the institutions they betray...In the intelligence community, we learn, anything short of pragmatism can be a grave security risk. While le Carré’s villains betray their countries for ideology or – worse – money, his decent people do so for love and idealism..."

The New York Times says that Le Carré's "last completed spy novel crowns a career attuned to moral ambivalence." There are additional laudatory reviews from The Wall Street Journal, Kirkus, and The Washington Post, among others.

Mr. Churchill's Secretary

This is the first book in the "Maggie Hope" series by Susan Elia MacNeal. I real a later book (The Queen's Accomplice) and was taken with the protagonist, so decided to start at the beginning. This book won a Barry Award and was nominated for Edgar, Macavity, and Dilys Awards. Not only does the author dig into details about day to day life in London when the Blitz was soon to start, but she deals with the misogyny of the British hierarchy that allowed them to hire women as spies to go behind enemy lines while denying them official  recognition and their survivors any death benefits.  This, of course, wasn't the case for men hired into the same jobs. There was this bizarre and inexcusable belief that, if Hitler knew they hired women as spies, he would consider the British to be weak.

Born to American parents in London, Maggie is orphaned at an early age and taken to Boston by a maiden (in this case Lesbian) aunt. When a grandmother she's never met dies and leaves her a "Victorian pile" in London, Maggie heads "across the pond" to sell the house, even as war looms on the horizon. But it turns out it's impossible to sell the house with German invasion imminent, so Maggie takes in roommates to make ends meet and decides to stay and try to help with the war effort. Maggie is hired as a typist when a secretary in the Prime Minister's office is murdered. She takes umbrage at having been passed over for the more demanding role of secretary (which only Oxbridge men were allowed to take), because she knows her math and pattern recognition skills are superior to those who do get hired, but still accepts the position at the urging of her friend David, who works in the PM's office. Not only is Germany intent on destroying England with nightly bombing, but the IRA is collaborating with them to destroy the government from within, and Maggie gets caught up in a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister. Along the way, she uncovers evidence that the father she thought was dead may still be alive.

Although Publishers Weekly offers a less than glowing review, I really enjoyed this book and will read more in the series. Kirkus concludes, "Brave, clever Maggie’s debut is an enjoyable mix of mystery, thriller and romance that captures the harrowing experiences of life in war-torn London." The Seattle Post-Intelligencer cautions, "The emphasis on Mr. Churchill's Secretary is certainly more on the fiction part and less on the history, which makes it a fun ride" but goes on to praise by saying, "Ms. MacNeal managed to write a compelling and captivating debut, while creating a saucy character."

A Kind of Grief

I read A Small Death in the Great Glen, the first book by A. D. Scott in the Joanne Ross/ Highland Gazette series, set in 1950's Scotland. This is the sixth book in the series and I felt like it was a real spoiler for earlier books, although I will still go back and read them. Kirkus introduces us to the protagonist in the book this way, "Joanne Ross still suffers from low self-esteem caused by a bullying father, an abusive former husband, and a near-death experience at the hands of a colleague. Now married to John McAllister, editor of the Highland Gazette, she’s given up her job, but not her curiosity...In 1959, life in the Scottish Highlands remains old-fashioned in many ways, so Joanne’s not entirely surprised to read about a woman tried and acquitted for witchcraft." Joanne is intrigued and makes her way to the woman's remote cottage in a beautiful glen with hopes of interviewing her. The woman, Alice Ramsey, refuses but invites Joanne in for a cup of tea and they make a connection. When Joanne inadvertently reveals information about Alice to an unscrupulous journalist, Alice cuts off all communication. When Alice is later found dead, apparently a suicide, Joanne is not only filled with grief but with guilt and begins to dig into the story in spite of her husband's concerns that it may be dangerous. When representatives of Britain's secret service also threaten her and her husband, she is not deterred. Kirkus concludes, "Scott ...skillfully uses the beauty of the Highlands as a backdrop for an entrancing mystery whose characters repeatedly and pleasurably upstage its action." Publishers Weekly agrees and notes, "Scott ably integrates the period’s Cold War intrigues into a story about the power of small communities both to sustain and to sabotage lives."

The Queen's Accomplice

 This book by Susan Elia MacNeal is the 6th in a series featuring cryptographer and MI 5 spy Maggie Hope. There are 4 subsequent books in the series so I jumped in right at the middle. I will definitely go back and read from the first one, Mr. Churchill's Secretary. In this book, set in 1942 London, the Blitz has finally stopped and Maggie finds herself cooling her heels as a receptionist in the office of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) until she is summoned by a former co-worker at MI 5 to help solve a series of murders. The killer is re-creating the murders of Jack the Ripper and targeting young women who have come to London to be interviewed by the SOE for possible insertion into occupied France. Maggie is already furious that women spies are paid a fraction of what men doing the same work receive, and, because the use of women spies is very hush hush and not covered by the Geneva Convention, they are not acknowledged officially when they die and their families are not compensated as the men's families are. But she can make no headway with the pompous men who send these young women out to their dangerous assignments. Having, apparently, a cozy relationship with the Queen, however, may make it possible to redress the issue. How much worse, then, for some misogynistic man to start murdering these women on their home turf. She gets paired up with with DCI James Durgin of Scotland Yard and they each begin to gradually appreciate the other's unique strengths. Durgin has years of experience that inform his "gut feelings" and Maggie is a maths prodigy who can see patterns in seemingly random data. They make an interesting team that will be sure to continue into future installments.

Basil's War

Author Stephen Hunter is new to me but one I will now keep an eye on. Hunter was formerly the chief film critic for The Washington Post and even won a Pulitzer for his collections of film criticism. He is also a prolific author, having written 20 novels and several works of non-fiction. There are 12 novels in his "Bob Lee Swagger" series plus two related spin-off series. This newest work (2021) is a stand-alone. The protagonist of this WWII era (1943) mystery is British Army Capt. Basil St. Florian. He has been a failure at everything his father has set him to do up to this point, but it turns out that he makes a really good spy--when he's not seducing Hollywood actresses! He parachutes into France, steals identity papers, and heads for Paris, where he is ordered to locate and photograph pages from a rare 17th century religious tract. Apparently the text serves as the basis for a "book code"--i.e., both sender and receiver rely on the same book to send and decipher encrypted messages. He can't steal the book because then the Nazis would know their codes have been compromised. The higher ups in the SOE (Basil's bosses) believe this pamphlet is the book code "key." They are also sure there is a Russian spy working at Bletchley Park and they are trying to use him/her in a clandestine manner to manipulate the Russians into a certain military strategy which they hope will end the war sooner. Having the key will allow them to identify this spy. The German policeman in Paris who is tracking Basil is very sharp, not a fan of the Nazis SS, but committed to finding Basil and it is the cat and mouse game between the two of them that comprises the bulk of the storyline. Publishers Weekly lauds Hunter's writing style as "a breezy, boys’ adventure book style that complements Basil’s derring-do exploits." A quick and engaging read.

Atomic Love

This romantic thriller is set in 1950's Chicago, during the height of the McCarthy era and Cold War. Protagonist Rosalind worked on the Manhattan project but was summarily dismissed due to a report about her emotional instability, written, she is sure, by a colleague and lover who dumped her. According to author Jennie Fields, there was, in fact, a young woman physicist on the Manhattan project --the youngest member of the team--who designed the boron trifluoride counter that gauged the first man-made nuclear reaction. Additional inspiration for characters came from another physicist on the team, Theodore Hall, who, like Weaver in the book, shared "crucial atomic secrets with the Russians while at Los Alamos, and continued to so postwar..." (Author's Note). A final inspiration from her own life was grandfather Dr. Joseph Spring, the Coroner Physician for Cook County during the Al Capone era. He was also well-known for significant contributions to the development of forensic science. He is seen in Rosalind's father, Dr. Joe.   

Rosalind was devastated by the simultaneous loss of her lover and her career. Moreover, she experienced a sense of horror that the work she had been doing was used to kill so many people after promises were made to the team that the bomb wouldn't be used but simply threatened. Her older sister looked after her until she eventually went back to work, behind the jewelry sales counter at a department store. She greatly misses being a scientist, but is fearful of pursuing meaningful work-- too ashamed by the circumstances of her dismissal, and also afraid the negative report will follow her into the job search. When her former lover, Weaver, gets back in touch after years of silence, she finds, to her chagrin, that she still has feelings for him. She is conflicted when she is contacted by the FBI, asking her to renew the relationship and spy on Weaver to find out if he is planning on passing information about the hydrogen bomb to the Russians. To complicate matters further, Rosalind begins to find herself attracted to her FBI handler, a former prisoner of war. 

The book is well written, and although the plot line is somewhat predictable, it is still worth a read. Rosalind is a woman scientist at a time when there were few opportunities for them and you get a good picture of the uphill battle women faced to be taken seriously in the world of work. Other characters are also well developed and the author's obvious love for the city of Chicago shines through her descriptions of settings. 

Kirkus lauds the book as "Atmospheric, historically interesting escapism." Publishers Weekly offers a slightly more mixed review, applauding the discussion of women's social constraints but finding the espionage plot line less compelling. 

The Order

Just what I needed, after reading several more demanding books, was this fast moving thriller about a plot to take over the papacy by an ultra-conservative semi-secret society. I have read a couple of other books by Daniel Silva--the first in the "Gabriel Allon series" The Kill Artist, and a later one in the series, The English Girl, both of which I enjoyed. This is the 20th book in the series, and although it helps to have some familiarity with the series just for character development purposes, I found this book no less compelling in spite of not reading them in order or in great numbers. Gabriel has become the director general of Israeli Intelligence services and so works constantly. His wife, Chiara, must plot with the Prime Minister and Gabriel's co-workers to engineer a much needed vacation in Venice with their two young children. The children's maternal grandparents also live there, giving Gabriel and Chiara the possibility of time alone as well. But fate or bad actors intervene when the Pope suddenly dies and Archbishop Luigi Donati, the Pope's devoted private secretary, comes to Allon with his suspicions of foul play.  The Swiss guard who normally stood outside the Pope's quarters has disappeared as has a letter the Pope was in the process of writing to Gabriel Allon.  "'While researching in the Vatican Secret Archives, I came upon a most remarkable book . . . ,' the pope begins his letter to Allon, and the whereabouts of that book--the suppressed Gospel of Pontius Pilate, in which the Roman prelate contradicts the New Testament's version of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus--drive the action here, as Allon and Donati track the secretive Order of St. Helena, a far-right Catholic society with a plan to hijack the papacy (think The Manchurian Candidate). Can Allon both save the Catholic Church and, with an assist from Pontius Pilate, help to undo the church's legacy of anti-Semitism?" (Booklist)

Kirkus calls it "Engaging and deftly paced." I call it perfect pandemic reading!