Honor Among Spies

Fawcett's mediocre third effort (after Death to Spies and Siren Song) to portray Ian Fleming as the prototype for his creation, James Bond, finds the former MI-5 operative in postwar retirement on Jamaica enjoying the good life, or at least trying to. An importunate letter from an old colleague now living in New Orleans, Prescott W. Quick, suggests that more is known of their spy past than is healthy for them. Sharing Bond's resolve and patriotism if not his suavity and access to exotic weaponry, Fleming abandons his island retreat and heads for New Orleans. There Fleming and his somewhat unreliable colleague race a formidable police inspector known as the Red Dwarf to locate a suspected killer who possesses sensitive information about himself and Quick. Kinky sex, voodoo and the ambience of New Orleans at Mardi Gras as well as the treacherous surrounding bayous give the author plenty of atmospheric material to work with, but these promising ingredients never quite gel into a gripping story. Still, the large Bond following should ensure that plenty more Fleming adventures flow from Fawcett.