The Spy Paramount

This breathless novel of international intrigue, first published in 1935 and now available as a British Library Spy Classic, follows the adventures of Anglo-American freelance spy Maj. Martin Fawley. A little squabble in a swanky barbershop in Nice leads Fawley to Paris, then to Rome for a meeting in a magnificent apartment in the Plaza Margaretta. That’s just chapter one. By the end of chapter two he has presented himself to General Berati, a sinister spymaster, received a platinum cigarette case with a secret compartment, and wound up in an attractive woman’s bedroom. Fawley subsequently zips along in high-powered automobiles, sips cocktails and chilled champagne, sups on caviar sandwiches, visits heads of state, and plays golf on the Riviera, all while saving the world from another war in Europe. If all of the above sounds vaguely familiar, it comes as no surprise that Oppenheim’s oeuvre was a favorite with the young Ian Fleming. All that’s missing is the racy sex. (Nov.)