The Third Encounter

A review of The Third Encounter by Sara Woods – 250111

Any sense of slight disappointment I might have had with Malice Domestic is more than compensated for by Sara Woods’ The Third Encounter, originally published in 1963 and reissued by the re-energised Dean Street Press. It also goes by the alternative title of The Taste of Fears. While it does not entirely leave the court room, although Sir Nicholas’ forensic skills are exhibited in an inquest rather than in a murder trial, it is as much a spy thriller as a murder mystery. It goes a long way to explaining Antony Maitland’s wartime experiences and the damaged shoulder he picked up as well as a tragedy that befell his wife, Jenny.

The scene is set by a short but dramatic prologue which finds Antony Maitland on a secret mission, posing as a French-speaking German and broadcasting the news, including coded messages, to the Resistance and British intelligence. Suddenly, in walks a German Commandant, Ohlendorff, whom Antony had met before the war, and his disguise is rumbled. Antony manages to escape eventually but is left with physical and mental scars of this second encounter.

We now move to the late 1950s and Antony receives a phone call at Chambers from Dr Henry Martin, a co-ordinator of British espionage operations, but when the call is put through, there is no one on the other end of the line. It emerges that around at around the time of the call, Martin was strangled and the obvious suspect is his cousin and heir, Gerry Martin. Antony and, by extension, his uncle, the formidable Sir Nicholas, are called in to defend him, believing that he is innocent. Meanwhile, Antony’s paranoia is increasing as he is convinced that he is being watched by someone from his past whom he vaguely recognizes. He is convinced that it is Ohlendorff.

Of course, the plotting requires a couple of remarkable coincidences: that Henry Martin is acting as a locum for a doctor who is acting as a liaison for the rump of the Nazis after the war and that of the four patients he saw that afternoon, two of whom were male, he would recognize one as a collaborator, Teddy Owen, who betrayed a cell of the French resistance simply to have an easier life. To prevent his and Ohlendorff’s identities being discovered, desperate measures had to be taken.

There are too few suspects to make this a complex murder mystery but the principal interest in the book is the tragic story of the betrayal of a cell of the French resistance and Antony wrestling with his demons by going back to France to track down the only survivor of the unit, Madelaine Bonnard. She was rescued by Owen and, in an unexpected twist, became mistress to Ohlendorff.

Maitland’s third encounter with Ohlendorff puts the would-be barrister in a difficult position with the police before turning deadly while Sir Nicholas’ masterly, audacious, and highly risky court room strategy unmasks the real Owen.

I found the book a page turner from start to finish, well-paced, intriguing, well written and I was engaged by Antony’s battle, both physical and mental, with his arch enemy. It was gripping stuff and is highly recommended.