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Review Date: 10/14/2008
Helpful Score: 2
DAUGHTER OF DECEIT is the third Family Tree Mystery with Atlanta's reluctant genealogist Katharine Murray. This seemingly cozy mystery dumps the genre and reads like a conventional novel: no murder in the first chapter, no small town. Atlanta's Buckhead, the society neighborhood, is tied with an excursion into rural North Georgia. Patricia Sprinkle's plotting lives up to these challenges: the cozy motif (colorful characters and drawn out suspense, interesting regional detail) is coupled with the delay of the murder. Not only is the reader trying to decide who is going to do it, but who is going to be done in. There are a couple of potential victims, lots of weasels and a plethora of motives from which to choose. DAUGHTER is summed up by one of the weasels who accuses Katharine, You like solving mysteries, don't you? And murders. Genealogy isn't serious for you. Its just a pretext for sticking your nose into other peoples business.
Review Date: 5/30/2009
Composed of magazine articles, chapters from books, a letter and a US Senate subcommittee report. (Sometimes the chapters from books are a little awkward as stand-alone stories.) *Indicates best stories.
I. Penetration: The Spy Inside
The Rise and Fall of a Soviet Agent (Kim Philby)
*Stealing the Plans (Duchez) A chapter from the book Ten Thousand Eyes by Richard Collier. A great, stand-alone short story.
The Spy the Nazis Missed (code name George Wood) Good story from True Magazine.
The Colonel Turns West (Oleg Penkovskiy) Soviet Colonel who spied for the West.
*The Playboy Sergeant (Jack E. Dunlap) Made big money for a sergeant while working at a low level in the National Security Agency by selling secrets to the USSR.
*Cicero--The Case of the Ambassador's Valet (Albanian valet of British Ambassador sold secrets to Germany in 1943. Very clever of him, but he didn't notice he was being paid in counterfeit money. Made into a movie, "
I. Penetration: The Spy Inside
The Rise and Fall of a Soviet Agent (Kim Philby)
*Stealing the Plans (Duchez) A chapter from the book Ten Thousand Eyes by Richard Collier. A great, stand-alone short story.
The Spy the Nazis Missed (code name George Wood) Good story from True Magazine.
The Colonel Turns West (Oleg Penkovskiy) Soviet Colonel who spied for the West.
*The Playboy Sergeant (Jack E. Dunlap) Made big money for a sergeant while working at a low level in the National Security Agency by selling secrets to the USSR.
*Cicero--The Case of the Ambassador's Valet (Albanian valet of British Ambassador sold secrets to Germany in 1943. Very clever of him, but he didn't notice he was being paid in counterfeit money. Made into a movie, "Five Fingers.")
Casanova's Journey to Dunkirk (From the Memoirs of Jacques Casanova. He visited the English Fleet in 1757 to assess their strength for the French during the Seven Years' War.)
II. Networks: The Organization of Espionage
Spymaster George Washington
The Spy on the Postage Stamp (Richard Sorge)
The Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle)
They Gave the Bomb Away (Harry Gold and David Greenglass)
III. Counterespionage: Spy to Catch a Spy
In a free society counterespionage is based on the practice most useful for hunting rabbits. Rather than look for the rabbit one posts oneself in a spot where the rabbit is likely to pass by.
Behind the Line (Letter from Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, former aide to Gen. Washington about John Andre and Benedict Arnold.)
The Capture of the Grand Chef (Trepper, code name Grand Chef, also known as Gilbert)
*The Atom Spy Who Had to Confess (Klaus Fuch) Fuch changed his mind about aiding the Soviets but when he confessed he could not be executed for treason because the Russians were our Allies when he did the deed, therefore he did not commit treason.
The Tell-Tale Air (Alexander Foote & Rudolf Roessler, code name Lucy)
IV. Double Agents: Working Both Sides of the Street
*Crossing the Delaware (John Honeyman) Honeyman pretended to be a Tory and a double agent in order to deliver misleading information to the British for Gen. Washington.
To Kill a Czar (Ievno Aseff)
The Neutral Attache (Col. Stig Wennerstrom, Swedish Air Force)
V. Defection: Changing Sides
The Clerk They Wouldn't Believe (Igor Gouzenko) Gouzenko was a code clerk for the Soviet Embassy in Canada. It took him and is wife several days to accomplish their defection because everyone they presented themselves to would not believe their story.
VI. Deception: Confusing the Adversary
Babylon Falls Again by Herodotus (Encouraged by a mule who bore a foal, surely a sign from heaven, Zopyrus carries out a plan to end the seige of Babylon allowing the Persians to win.)
*The Man Who Never Was (Operation Mincemeat) The story of the preparation of papers to be found on a corpse off the Spanish coast. This fictional person was named Major Martin.
Overlord Goes Underground (The invasion of Normandy)
News Made to Order (Testimony of Richard Helms, Assist. Dirctor, CIA, to a Senate sub-committee hearing.)
VII. Codes and Ciphers: Secrets to Unravel
A German Blunder (The Zimmerman telegram which brought the U.S. into WWI.)
Keeping a Secret (We break the Japanese "ultra" code.)
VIII. Scientific Intelligence: The Technology of Espionage
Eyes from the Sky (Spying on the German experimental rocket establishments with air photo-reconnaissance.)
*The Case of the Wayward Missile (Dr. Wernher von Braun in Poland testing V-2 rockets.)
Spying on the Winds (Monitoring of radioactivity in the atmosphere.)
IX. Evaluation: Shifting the Evidence
Last-Minute MAGIC (MAGIC was code name for Japanese codes and ciphers which the US broke.) "All decisions are made in the fact of uncertainty, even those that depend simply on an understanding of natural phenomena."
The Dark December (The failure to detect the German plans for The Battle of the Bulge.) Gen. Eisenhower wrote after the war of the stepchild position of G-2 in the General Staff system.
X. Action: The Dagger Beneath the Cloak
The Venlo Incident (German secret agent F479) Hitler and the Beer Cellar Affair
*Assassin Disarmed by Love (Bogdan Nikolayevich Stashinskiy) Accomplished assassin who turned to the West when his Soviet masters didn't approved of his marriage to a German.
XI. Classic Instances of Espionage
The Archtraitor (Alfred Redl)
London Calling North Pole ("Ebenezer") Captured Dutch radio operator who was force to cooperate with German counterespionage operations out of Holland.
*Prelude to Invasion (code name "Torch") The Anglo-American invasion of North Africa, Nov. 1942. (less)
I. Penetration: The Spy Inside
The Rise and Fall of a Soviet Agent (Kim Philby)
*Stealing the Plans (Duchez) A chapter from the book Ten Thousand Eyes by Richard Collier. A great, stand-alone short story.
The Spy the Nazis Missed (code name George Wood) Good story from True Magazine.
The Colonel Turns West (Oleg Penkovskiy) Soviet Colonel who spied for the West.
*The Playboy Sergeant (Jack E. Dunlap) Made big money for a sergeant while working at a low level in the National Security Agency by selling secrets to the USSR.
*Cicero--The Case of the Ambassador's Valet (Albanian valet of British Ambassador sold secrets to Germany in 1943. Very clever of him, but he didn't notice he was being paid in counterfeit money. Made into a movie, "
I. Penetration: The Spy Inside
The Rise and Fall of a Soviet Agent (Kim Philby)
*Stealing the Plans (Duchez) A chapter from the book Ten Thousand Eyes by Richard Collier. A great, stand-alone short story.
The Spy the Nazis Missed (code name George Wood) Good story from True Magazine.
The Colonel Turns West (Oleg Penkovskiy) Soviet Colonel who spied for the West.
*The Playboy Sergeant (Jack E. Dunlap) Made big money for a sergeant while working at a low level in the National Security Agency by selling secrets to the USSR.
*Cicero--The Case of the Ambassador's Valet (Albanian valet of British Ambassador sold secrets to Germany in 1943. Very clever of him, but he didn't notice he was being paid in counterfeit money. Made into a movie, "Five Fingers.")
Casanova's Journey to Dunkirk (From the Memoirs of Jacques Casanova. He visited the English Fleet in 1757 to assess their strength for the French during the Seven Years' War.)
II. Networks: The Organization of Espionage
Spymaster George Washington
The Spy on the Postage Stamp (Richard Sorge)
The Red Orchestra (Rote Kapelle)
They Gave the Bomb Away (Harry Gold and David Greenglass)
III. Counterespionage: Spy to Catch a Spy
In a free society counterespionage is based on the practice most useful for hunting rabbits. Rather than look for the rabbit one posts oneself in a spot where the rabbit is likely to pass by.
Behind the Line (Letter from Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens, former aide to Gen. Washington about John Andre and Benedict Arnold.)
The Capture of the Grand Chef (Trepper, code name Grand Chef, also known as Gilbert)
*The Atom Spy Who Had to Confess (Klaus Fuch) Fuch changed his mind about aiding the Soviets but when he confessed he could not be executed for treason because the Russians were our Allies when he did the deed, therefore he did not commit treason.
The Tell-Tale Air (Alexander Foote & Rudolf Roessler, code name Lucy)
IV. Double Agents: Working Both Sides of the Street
*Crossing the Delaware (John Honeyman) Honeyman pretended to be a Tory and a double agent in order to deliver misleading information to the British for Gen. Washington.
To Kill a Czar (Ievno Aseff)
The Neutral Attache (Col. Stig Wennerstrom, Swedish Air Force)
V. Defection: Changing Sides
The Clerk They Wouldn't Believe (Igor Gouzenko) Gouzenko was a code clerk for the Soviet Embassy in Canada. It took him and is wife several days to accomplish their defection because everyone they presented themselves to would not believe their story.
VI. Deception: Confusing the Adversary
Babylon Falls Again by Herodotus (Encouraged by a mule who bore a foal, surely a sign from heaven, Zopyrus carries out a plan to end the seige of Babylon allowing the Persians to win.)
*The Man Who Never Was (Operation Mincemeat) The story of the preparation of papers to be found on a corpse off the Spanish coast. This fictional person was named Major Martin.
Overlord Goes Underground (The invasion of Normandy)
News Made to Order (Testimony of Richard Helms, Assist. Dirctor, CIA, to a Senate sub-committee hearing.)
VII. Codes and Ciphers: Secrets to Unravel
A German Blunder (The Zimmerman telegram which brought the U.S. into WWI.)
Keeping a Secret (We break the Japanese "ultra" code.)
VIII. Scientific Intelligence: The Technology of Espionage
Eyes from the Sky (Spying on the German experimental rocket establishments with air photo-reconnaissance.)
*The Case of the Wayward Missile (Dr. Wernher von Braun in Poland testing V-2 rockets.)
Spying on the Winds (Monitoring of radioactivity in the atmosphere.)
IX. Evaluation: Shifting the Evidence
Last-Minute MAGIC (MAGIC was code name for Japanese codes and ciphers which the US broke.) "All decisions are made in the fact of uncertainty, even those that depend simply on an understanding of natural phenomena."
The Dark December (The failure to detect the German plans for The Battle of the Bulge.) Gen. Eisenhower wrote after the war of the stepchild position of G-2 in the General Staff system.
X. Action: The Dagger Beneath the Cloak
The Venlo Incident (German secret agent F479) Hitler and the Beer Cellar Affair
*Assassin Disarmed by Love (Bogdan Nikolayevich Stashinskiy) Accomplished assassin who turned to the West when his Soviet masters didn't approved of his marriage to a German.
XI. Classic Instances of Espionage
The Archtraitor (Alfred Redl)
London Calling North Pole ("Ebenezer") Captured Dutch radio operator who was force to cooperate with German counterespionage operations out of Holland.
*Prelude to Invasion (code name "Torch") The Anglo-American invasion of North Africa, Nov. 1942. (less)
Review Date: 11/14/2024
Scientific, yet not a textbook. Fun to read. Should be on every mystery writers reference shelf.
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