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Wallace of the Secret Service #9
Chronicles of the Secret Service
Frustrated with the sheer ennui of London life and looking for fresh excitement, Anthony Anstruther and his girlfriend leave a nightclub to find a drunken Russian tramp playing noughts and crosses in chalk on Anthony’s car. This seemingly innocent enterprise spurs on a chain of events involving the British Secret Service and an assassination that would shake the Empire to its foundations.
In this thrilling trio of adventures, Sir Leonard Wallace and his Secret Service agents will thwart criminal endeavours from Hong Kong to Afghanistan and they’ll stop at nothing to save the day.
In this thrilling trio of adventures, Sir Leonard Wallace and his Secret Service agents will thwart criminal endeavours from Hong Kong to Afghanistan and they’ll stop at nothing to save the day.
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1940
About the author
Alexander Wilson
210 books20 followersAlexander Wilson was an English writer, spy and MI6 officer.
Under his own name and the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Spencer, Gregory Wilson, and Michael Chesney, he penned 24 novels between 1928 and 1940. He wrote a further four unpublished novels and his last spy short story was published in a Faber & Faber collection My Best Spy Story in 1955.
Wilson was a bigamist; only after his death was it discovered that he had four wives, six sons, and one daughter. The 2018 miniseries Mrs Wilson tells the story from the point of view of his third wife, Alison (portrayed by Alexander and Alison's granddaughter: Ruth Wilson).
Librarian note: There are several authors with the name Alexander Wilson
Under his own name and the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Spencer, Gregory Wilson, and Michael Chesney, he penned 24 novels between 1928 and 1940. He wrote a further four unpublished novels and his last spy short story was published in a Faber & Faber collection My Best Spy Story in 1955.
Wilson was a bigamist; only after his death was it discovered that he had four wives, six sons, and one daughter. The 2018 miniseries Mrs Wilson tells the story from the point of view of his third wife, Alison (portrayed by Alexander and Alison's granddaughter: Ruth Wilson).
Librarian note: There are several authors with the name Alexander Wilson
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 15, 2020
The last in the series. Three short stories in this one and only one features Sir Leonard. I'm not saying who is in the others but one is a bit obvious.
Having read them all now I do feel that, whilst the stores are of their time and very un-PC, they are all rather Boy's Own. The brilliance of Sir Leonard is a rather over-egged but that's part of the fun. It is highly unlikely that the chief of the British Secret Service would have gone out into the field to undertake some of the things he did. All-in-all a bit of fun and light reading.
Having read them all now I do feel that, whilst the stores are of their time and very un-PC, they are all rather Boy's Own. The brilliance of Sir Leonard is a rather over-egged but that's part of the fun. It is highly unlikely that the chief of the British Secret Service would have gone out into the field to undertake some of the things he did. All-in-all a bit of fun and light reading.
September 3, 2018
This book contains a collection of short spy stories.
The stories and characters were good, but the writing (and pace) felt dated.
If you enjoy ‘old style’ spy stories this book maybe worth a look.
The stories and characters were good, but the writing (and pace) felt dated.
If you enjoy ‘old style’ spy stories this book maybe worth a look.
August 23, 2019
Truly awful racist claptrap. The language and racial epithets may be "of their time", but no one could doubt how deeply racist the British Empire was. I write that as a 50-something Briton who know that there were also some decent aspects of Empire.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews