Friends and Traitors
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Inspector Troy of Scotland Yard stars in thriller that’s “part murder mystery, part spy tale . . . a wickedly seductive entertainment” (TheWashington Post).
London, 1958. Chief Superintendent Frederick Troy of Scotland Yard, newly promoted after good service during Nikita Khrushchev’s visit to Britain, is not looking forward to a European trip with his older brother, Rod. Rod has decided to take his entire family on “the Grand Tour” for his fifty-first birthday: a whirlwind of restaurants, galleries, and concert halls from Paris to Florence to Vienna to Amsterdam.
But Frederick Troy only gets as far as Vienna. It is there that he crosses paths with an old acquaintance, a man who always seems to be followed by trouble: British-spy-turned-Soviet-agent Guy Burgess. Suffice it to say that Troy is more than surprised when Burgess, who has escaped from the bosom of Moscow for a quick visit to Vienna, tells him something extraordinary: “I want to come home.” Troy knows this news will cause a ruckus in London—but even Troy doesn’t expect an MI5 man to be gunned down as a result, with Troy himself suspected of doing the deed . . .
“An artful blend of two ever-popular subjects: espionage and British police work.” —The Seattle Times
“The surprises keep coming, not merely up to the last chapter but even to the novel’s very last line.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Lawton’s superb eighth Inspector Troy novel . . . [a] smart, fascinating historical thriller.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A beguiling interpretation of [Guy] Burgess’ life both before and after his defection in 1951.” —Booklist (starred review)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The lives of Scotland Yard detective Frederick Troy and real-life historical figure Guy Burgess, the English traitor who spied for the Russians, intersect in Lawton's superb eighth Inspector Troy novel (after 2010's A Lily of the Field). After their initial meeting in 1935 at a party in Hertfordshire, Troy views Burgess as "an endless blabbermouth," and his older brother warns him about being seen in Burgess's company because Burgess is "queer as a coot," and his father tells him Burgess is a spy. Despite all this, Troy finds the man intriguing. Through WWII and into the cold war era, as Troy rises in the ranks at Scotland Yard, Burgess is always hovering somewhere nearby, until he defects to the Soviet Union in 1951. Then in 1958, their paths cross again in Vienna after a concert; Burgess indicates that he wants to return to England. Troy alerts MI5, who send an agent to debrief Burgess. But when the agent is shot dead outside the British embassy, Troy becomes a suspect in the man's murder. Lawton's portrayal of Burgess as far less dangerous than in most accounts adds to the interest of this smart, fascinating historical thriller.
