Prince of Spies is the first in Alex Gerlis's quartet featuring Lincolnshire Detective Superintendent Richard Prince, who in 1942 is recruited by MI6 and sent undercover to occupied Denmark to root out a potential mole in Six and to check out sources who have been relaying information about the V1 and V2 programme. Prince's mother was Danish and he spent his school holidays there. He also speaks a reasonable amount of German and some French.
The mission is only supposed to last a couple of weeks but Prince's contacts are thorough. His main contact, Agent Osric (Prince is Laertes), is also a cop, a female detective in Copenhagen called Hanna Jakobsen. Other contacts and agents are kept at arm's length but include anti-Nazi Germans at the highest level. After a slow-burning start, Denmark is where the novel really comes alive. Gerlis uses straightforward prose which, at that point, becomes vital for us to be able to follow the twists and turns of who is who and where they stand. The characterisation of these agents is more detailed than usual in spy fiction - particularly in war spy fiction, which tends to favour stereotypes of good and evil. This is the sign of Gerlis's mastery in the genre; he is now launching his fourth series of wartime novels. It enables us to appreciate the sacrifice these people make.
The thrill-rate is well managed and there are couple of intriguing side-plots. I especially enjoyed the betrayal of the high-ranking SS officer by his wife, which is entirely conducted in letters and a couple of official memos. I also liked the arguments over tactics between the spies, the military, and Winston Churchill's special advisers. I suspect these play out over series. I am definitely adding Gerlis to my list of must-reads.
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