The latest thriller from the prolific and capable Allbeury (Deep Purple, p. 116) begins with a startling question from a backbencher in Parliament about wartime events long buried and--the government hopes--forgotten. What Marcus Price, M.P. wants to know is whether Winston Churchill knowingly betrayed British officers working with the French resistance. Since parliamentary questions, no matter how embarrassing, must be answered, H.M. Government sends Harry Chapman of Special Intelligence Services to look into the matter. There are two stories. The first is about Philip Maclean, a young half-French Scot, who agreed to serve his country as liaison with the French in order to be near his childhood sweetheart. He turned out to be a cracker-jack agent who shaped a viable resistance unit. But he was suddenly and mysteriously ordered by London to abandon his successful, low-profile strategy and begin a campaign of reckless sabotage. And he was promptly caught, imprisoned, and executed by the Germans. The second story is about Chapman's efforts to determine who betrayed Maclean. Was it Henri Masson, the French pilot who dealt with the Germans from the beginning of the war? Or did the treachery begin with Maclean's own masters? Or higher up? Chapman meets and befriends Maclean's widow in Paris and goes on to find the survivors of the resistance--including Masson--and gets much too close to the correct answers. His own life is in danger. Smooth, spare, and smart. This is how you're supposed to do it, class.