MI6 – Life And Death In The British Secret Service by Gordon Corera

The Blurb On The Back:

The story of MI6 is the story of the human factor that lies at the heart of spying. From shadowy work in the bars of post-war Vienna to recent high-tech missions in Iraq and Libya, secret agents are forced to play a bewildering variety of roles: as psychiatrists, confidants and interrogators. From the spymasters in London and the agents they run to their elusive enemies, relationships are what drive espionage. These thrilling and often moving stories illustrate the dangers and moral ambiguities that come with working for British intelligence and reveal how the fictional worlds of Bond and le Carre have been drawn from reality and have in turn shaped the real world of spies.

Grand dramas such as the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall and the September 11th attacks provide the backdrop for these stories of the men and women who have spied, lied and in some cases died in the service of the state.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

BBC security correspondent, Gordon Corera’s book is a broad-brush summary of MI-6’s operations and internal struggles from 1949 and the intensification of the Cold War through to the modern War on Terror. Weighing in at over 400 pages, it’s a surprisingly quick read with Corera packing in a lot of information without ever bogging down or making it seem turgid.

A Death In The Family by Caroline Dunford

The Blurb On The Back:

”I briefly considered the option of swooning in a ladylike manner, but I was denied this by virtue of position: I was a maid; and by natural inclination: I have never known how to swoon. Instead, I did what I believe most females of sensibility would have done finding themselves alone with a murdered corpse. I screamed exceedingly loudly, quite in the common manner, and pelted out of the room …

In December 1909 the Reverend Josiah Martins expires in a dish of mutton and onions leaving his family on the brink of destitution. Joshia’s daughter, Euphemia, takes it upon herself to provide for her mother and little brother by entering service. She’s young, fit, intelligent, a little naïve and assumes the life of a maid won’t be too demanding. However, on her first day at the unhappy home of Sir Stapleford she discovers a murdered body.

Euphemia’s innate sense of justice has her prying where no servant should look and uncovering some of the darker social, political and business secrets of the Stapleford family. All she has to defend herself with is her quick wits, sense of humour and the ultimate weapon of all virtuous young women – her scream.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Caroline Dunford’s historical crime novel, the first in a series, is a well-crafted mystery with a spirited heroine who has plenty of initiative and courage but who is conscious of the need to protect her own secrets even as she seeks to uncover those belonging to other people. The Stapleford family are drawn with a fairly broad brush – Lord Stapleford is all bluff bluster and casual cruelty, Richenda is a well-meaning suffragette who doesn’t quite have the courage of her convictions, Richard is a cad and a bounder, prone to trying to have his way with the staff and Lady Stapleford a shallow woman who lets Mrs Wilson run the house for her. Only Bertram is allowed room to grow and I found him interesting in how he comes to appreciate Euphemia’s intelligence and spirit and yet is blinded by their class relationship - I’m not normally a romance fan, but theirs is one I’d be interested to see develop over the future books. I’m also interested in seeing how Euphemia handles Mrs Wilson in the later books, given some of the revelations about her here. Ultimately this is a perfectly cosy murder mystery, perfect for reading on a wet Sunday afternoon and I will definitely be checking out the rest of the series.