THROW AWAY THE KEY

A mild-mannered CIA burglar doggedly chases a posthumous clue from a secretive colleague.

After decades of working for the CIA, veteran Langley lock expert Lars Bergman looks forward to his imminent retirement. But a serious snag arises when Paul Davis, chief of the agency’s Counterintelligence Center, unexpectedly summons him to the ominous seventh floor of CIA headquarters. He’s asked to open the safe of recently deceased operative Irene Johannsen, which turns out to be empty except for a dry cleaning receipt and a single Polaroid picture—with Lars’ signature on the back. The mysteries of the photograph and the receipt nag at Lars and raise many questions. The very innocuousness of these discoveries is provocative. Is Irene sending him a message from beyond the grave? The mystery sends the meticulous Lars back to Europe in both the present and, via a series of flashbacks, in 1989. This amiable thriller unfolds humorously as Hough doles out the plot, through both past and present, in tiny revelations that gradually build to a dangerous situation for Lars. The divorced Lars’ fumbling attempts to forge a new relationship with his daughter, Alice, also a CIA operative, provide an appealing subplot. Hough paints a convincing picture of the espionage world, taking time for gentle fun with acronyms and officious job titles. (Once called a Staff Burglar, Lars is now a Surreptitious Entry Specialist.) Readers will likely be impressed by how much interesting information there is about lock-picking and keys, making the author’s geeky enthusiasm highly contagious.

A relaxed espionage caper long on spy shenanigans.