THE AMBASSADOR AND THE SPY

Just who is the spy who has been keeping warm in the blue files of the British Embassy where he was once employed as a clerk? He's the part English, part Russian and only borderline human Peter Robinsohn who seems to have direct access to the upcoming revolution in one of those little countries called Veralia in which Russia is interested. This also concerns an aging Ambassador who has temporized too long, his not too faithful Penelope, and his daughter (a subsidiary plot) near at hand when Robinsohn makes his next to final exit in a coffin. Not as disconsolate as Le Carre (the comparison has been made) nor as exigent as many, but the tone is firm and the touch assured.