All the King's Soldiers

Those who had already arrived felt palpable relief at having escaped, but they remained very anxious since most had yet to secure passage off the continent. Their journeys were not complete. Lisbon was also the center of espionage as all sides tried to learn what they could from those who were trying to get out. Where espionage is happening, spies work in abundance. And, the spies were plying their information-gathering trade on everyone.

Taylor Hartridge was a highly placed English spy, and the book opened when his dead body was discovered by Timothy Witherspoon, a long-time member of British Intelligence, and Pamela Davenport, who was also a member of British Intelligence, but her role was more murky. Due to manpower shortages as a result of the war, a new Intelligence employee, Simon Cole, the author’s protagonist, was brought from London to Portugal to investigate Hartridge’s death. Cole had been a lifelong academic, was a brilliant researcher, but had never done this type of investigation. Prior to his arrival in Portugal, Davenport and Cole had a love affair, and it was she who recruited him into Intelligence.

The British soon discovered that Hartridge had gotten a copy of the German’s plans for the invasion of England, but rather than immediately sending that to London through the usual and fastest channels, he put them in his safe based on the sense that the Lisbon embassy was tainted by a double agent. The plans disappeared from Hartridge’s safe. Complicating Cole’s investigation, was the work of “the Chameleon,” a master German spy. The Chameleon was a master of disguise and languages, and he used multiple identities to do his work and gather new information, especially about what was going on inside the British embassy. And then there were more murders, a prostitute and Witherspoon. Then there was the lovely Maria Carmen Santiago who began a love affair with Cole, but she was still a suspect in Hartridge’s murder.

There were multiple other characters, and like any classic spy novel, it was sometimes difficult to track who had allegiances to whom. Miller made plot changes happening to the very end which I did not anticipate. If this is your genre, then this is a good read.