DRINK TO YESTERDAY

This wavers between the straight novel of adventure, and the thriller, but is so much above average in style that it deserves a wider sale than the mystery table would give it. Classically out, and finely written story of counter-espionage in the last war, and of one man whom it broke, -- Michael Kingston, alias Bill Saunders, alias Dirk Brandt. Minus the Oppenheim masquerade, code concoctions, I-spy flimflam, this is a quiet but exciting job. Kingston had a gift for languages, and at 17 enlisted and was drafted into secret service, under Hambledon. They engineered the murder of a scientist breeding cholera germs -- the arson of a Zepp plant -- the murder of Bodenheim. The death of Hambledon and of a German girl brought the wheel of murder full circle, and Kingston found himself haunted by blue devils when the Armistice came, unable to come to grips with himself or life. Rentals and some sales.