Legal Commentary

I still run out and buy the new John LeCarre as soon as it hits the bookstores, even though nothing he has written since the end of the Cold War has measured up to the George Smiley era.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy may be my all-time favorite book, and Smiley's People isn't far behind.  He just was a lot better when his target was intelligence agencies, and not the vast global corporate conspiracy.  I'm hoping that the rise of Russian nationalism under Putin will inspire one last great spy novel from him.  (I tried to send him an e-mail suggesting that, but his website didn't have a working contact link.)

In the meantime, my "pre-order" author is Alan Furst, who has written a series of ten novels, beginning with Night Soldiers, all of which are set between 1933 and 1945 in Europe, and all of which involve a hero in the secret world.  There is a formula going on here, but it is very, very well done.  One recurring motif is that something always happens in his "Brasserie Heininger" in Paris, which is modeled on the real Bofinger near the Bastille (unmistakably described in the books, if you've been there).

The newest entrant in the series is The Spies of Warsaw, which I just finished.  If you like historical fiction, European cities, espionage stories, and a nice break from whatever else you're doing, I recommend it.