awton's second Inspector Troy story (following Black Out), finds the upper class detective in middle-age as the Cold War menaces England in 1956. The dense book is equal parts Cold War thriller (a la Carré or Furst), period depiction of post-WW II Britain, and insight into a complex protagonist's head. It's an ambitious undertaking, and I regret to say there's not a lot of thrill in the thriller, rather too much detail of domestic British politics for any but the most eager Anglophile, and Troy's hang-ups aren't enough to sustain interest in light of the book's heft.

The thriller part concerns the death of an apparent British spy during a visit by Kruschev to England. Troy is part of a Russian-speaking security detail assigned to eavesdrop on the Soviet delegation, but eventually ends up investigating the mysterious death. This investigation is rather herky-jerky and the result is both awfully banal for the amount of effort it takes, and disappointing in how it coincidentally links up to Troy's past. The period detail is well done (especially all the slang), but it would have benefited from a little concision. The grimy look at London and small towns in transition is nice, but there's far too much political intrigue and detail. Troy himself is a somewhat intriguing character, highly ambivalent to Queen and country, he struggles with his Russian heritage and advancing age. Still, one can't help but find the supporting cast more interesting-from Troy's boss "Onions", to his pig consultant, to the Polish pathologist, and various femme fatales. The problem is that Troy's really not particularly likable, and it's a bit of a chore to stick with him for so many pages.

As in the first book, Troy's family, school friends, and past loves are all at the author's service in moving the story along-indeed it becomes hard to overlook how convenient it is to the plotting that Troy's brother is a prominent politician with his fingers in top-secret pies. It's also hard to ignore how many times Troy gets shot, beaten-up, left for dead, etc. and yet still pursues the truth. Were the book more focused (and hence shorter), I'd be able to overlook these contrivances, but coupled with the faults outlined above, they make it difficult to recommend this book. A further warning is that one really must read the first book, Black Out, in order to get the full flavor of the characters and relationships. The third Troy book is A Little White Death, set in 1963-it hasn't yet been published in US, and based on this one, I won't bother to read it when it is.

I think this is a very interesting book. And I think you have to have a lot of patience to read it. I got to page 115 and the latter overcame the former.

In reading Dumas, Seinkewicz, LeCarre, Furst, Hemingway, even Chandler, one is bound to get a flavor of the time. You might get that in author's description of the architecture. Or perhaps in the transportation. Those gifted authors, especially those writing from a later time describing a much earlier one can amplify the scene with dialogue. Conversations between the characters. How people spoke. Somehow we can rest assured when D'Artagnan is invested into the Musketeers, he doesn't say, "Dude. Thanks."

But there's a limit to how much 'flavoring' we can take. If we truly don't understand what the characters are saying, then we lose the impact, sense, feeling and meaning of an entire scene.

I struggled with Mr. Lawton's dialogue and I certainly applaud those readers who understood what he was saying.

However, 'boffins,' 'wobbling,' 'saggar-maker bottom knocker,' 'are you going to have her put to tup this month?' 'for a moment he thought they'd both corpse,' and 'morris dancing in middle wallop,' all before page 11 . . .
well reading with a glossery in my left hand while turning pages with my right, was something I ceased doing in the 10th grade. It sounds like a heckuva' story, though. If you can get through that I'm certain you'll be fine.

Bloody silly of me. I just fagged out. Cheers.

In 1956, Nikita Khrushchev visits England. Because he can speak Russian, having moved from there as a child, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Frederick Troy is assigned as Khrushchev's escort, his (and the English) interpreter, and English spy. Most cops would loath the assignment, but Frederick even more so because of his espionage assignments during WW II and his gut belief that his father was a spy and traitor.

As Khrushchev gets ready to depart (to Troy's relief), in Portsmouth Harbour the mutilated body of a navy diver Lieutenant (R) Arnold Cockerell is found though his wife says the corpse is not him, but provides no explanation as to where he is. Evidence leads to the conclusion that Cockerell, a furniture salesman, apparently was a spy, but no one confesses that he was employed by them, leaving the police to wonder for whom did he work? Troy is involved in that case and wrapping up his spying on Khrushchev, but also has personal problems to contend with, as his family detests the past resurfacing and his former deadly KGB old flame making a return into his life.

OLD FLAMES is a powerful espionage tale that plays out on two levels. First, the story line is an atmospheric Cold War spy novel set at a time when England and the West are shocked by the Philby-Burgess scandals and Khrushchev is screaming nuclear burial. The ploy also provides a subtle humor to all the spy and counterspy activity. Troy keeps the tale together as the audience receives a terrific espionage thriller cleverly inter-wrapped with a probing police procedural like a Moebius Band.

Harriet Klausner