Last year, Oundle Crime read a novel called Mrs Spy by M.J. Robotham – a light hearted spy story, set in 1960s London. It got the thumbs up from our group and we hoped there would be more books in the pipeline. Now there’s a sequel called The Spy and the Snake which, happily, we think is just as good as the first book. We’ve given it 5 Stars.
It’s 1968 and Maggie Flynn is still working for MI5, but she’s been promoted and is now more deskbound, shuffling files around rather than being the Watcher that she was in Mrs Spy. When this novel opens, she’s also nannying a Russian defector called Oleg Lebedev – a dissolute character who is testing the patience of his guards and causing Maggie all sorts of problems.
Out of the blue, the new-ish Director General of MI5, a man called Guy Standing, asks Maggie to go on an undercover and unsupported mission to Hungary, to extract a British defector called Fitzroy Carver, who now wants to come home. Carver is only prepared to move if the agent they send is a woman, who will pose as his wife. The extraction will be complicated because Carver refuses to fly, so it will be up to Maggie to come up with a suitable plan once she’s in Hungary.
Arriving in Budapest, Maggie sets out to contact Carver and strikes up a friendship with a local café owner and his brother, who encourage her to see the sights. And it’s while sightseeing that she comes up with an outlandish scheme to get Carver home. It’s going to be tricky, not least because Carver is a heavy drinker who still socialises with several local KGB agents and the Hungarian secret police.
What follows is the exciting and funny tale of Maggie’s unorthodox approach to the job in hand. It involves encounters with many charming and delightful locals, as well as encounters with the two secret police organisations, which are neither. There’s even a mysterious and charming Englishman, whom Maggie is in danger of falling for.
There is, of course, a compelling reason why the British security services want to get Fitzroy Carver back, but this isn’t revealed until the end of the novel. Instead, the reader can concentrate on Maggie and her efforts to outwit the enemy and complete her mission successfully. Everything ends well but there are some hair-raising moments along the way.
Our verdict
We both really liked this addition to the Maggie Flynn series. Maggie herself is still an appealing, feisty heroine; and although Carver is mostly a stubborn, exasperating and unhelpful slob, he has moments of brilliance.
The two Hungarian brothers are good foils in the plot and their insistence that Maggie should see the sights of Budapest allow the author to paint a vivid picture of the city and its inhabitants. The descriptions are good and leave you wanting to know more, and the impression of the Hungarian population is that they are a kind and cheerful people, unbowed and resisting their communist rulers as best they can. 1960s London is also well-drawn and entertaining.
It would be easy to slot this novel into the category of ‘cosy crime’ or even describe it as a romp, but that would be unfair because there’s quite a lot of meat to the story itself; and M.J. Robotham creates a believable picture of the 1960s which is very enjoyable. As well as that, the story is well-plotted and engaging and the pace is lively, so The Spy and the Snake was great fun to read. We give it 5 Stars.
Review by: Freyja and Cornish Eskimo
What’s in a Star?
In Oundle Crime’s book, 5 Stars means “Outstanding and unforgettable. A book you can’t wait to tell others about.”
If you’d like to meet other crime fiction fans and chat about the books and authors you enjoy, why not come along to an Oundle Crime meeting? It’s relaxed and friendly, and anyone can drop in. Email join@friendsofoundlelibrary.org.uk and we’ll send you the details.