Yesterday was not a good day. I felt pretty crappy. Not too bad this morning though, so that's good. Anyway, your Advent Calendar book for Dec 6th follows.
"Alexander Wilson was an English writer and a spy with MI6. He lived from 1893 - 1963 and authored, amongst other books, a spy thriller series featuring Chief of the Intelligence Department, Sir Leonard Wallace. Of his 20+ novels, 9 featured Wallace. The Mystery of Tunnel 51 was the first book and was originally published in 1928.
The story starts in India, in Simla, where Maj Elliot arrives with a package of Top Secret documents for the Viceroy of India. Unfortunately he has just missed the Viceroy, who had returned to New Delhi. Elliot is a target of Russian spies and eventually murdered as he and a companion travel by train to Delhi, in Tunnel 51. When the Viceroy's personal secretary arrives in Delhi with the documents, it is discovered that in fact all he had were blank sheets of paper. Questions arise. How was Elliot murdered in the train? And what happened to the documents? The Viceroy decides that along with the police investigation, he needs help from Britain's spy chief, Leonard Wallace.
This begins an excellent adventure. Wallace, along with his competent, faithful Maj. Brien and his assistant, Batty, head off by plane to India and begin an investigation into the crimes and an effort to stop the Russian spies from disrupting the British rule in India. They will travel from one end of India to the other as they chase the stolen documents and ace Russian spy and arch enemy, Levinsky.
It's a fascinating story and Wallace and his companions are excellent characters. It's neat seeing how all this is done back in the 1920's; plane travel and all of the other things. It's neat getting a picture of India in that time as well. It's an entertaining, action-packed adventure with all the appropriate life-threatening situations through which Wallace and his team must navigate with an ultimately satisfying ending. The Devil's Cocktail sits on my bookshelf awaiting my attention. (4.0 stars)"
Have a great day!
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