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It all began with the shooting of a one-armed man in a cheap suit and cardboard shoes. Ordinarily, such a death would have attracted no attention. However, the fact that the body was found on the grounds of the British Embassy in Moscow and the murder assumed to have been committed there has raised the stakes. According to an agreement between the British and the Russians, such a situation results in an investigation that is jointly conducted by both countries. The Russians are attempting to falsify the evidence so that they can have sole responsibility for the case. However, MI5 has sent veteran agent Charlie Muffin to run their investigation; and he is up to some misdirection of his own. At the same time, the Americans are showing interest, for their own reasons. This is one of those books where every character is not what he or she seems. Almost all of them seem to be operating according to their own hidden agenda. There is no one that is really honest; you can never trust that what is being said or done is the truth. Charlie is a master at this game of deception. He usually can sense when his counterparts are playing him, and he is quite adept at adjusting his own approaches on the fly and is fearless at asserting his investigative independence. That doesn't mean that he doesn't make any mistakes; in fact, he makes quite a lot of them, to the point where his own career appears to be in jeopardy. In addition to the Russians, who at times do seem to be genuinely partnering in solving the murder, Charlie also has to deal with representatives of the CIA. As it turns out, there is a spy deep within the British Embassy, and another who seems to be buried in the Russian organization. Bugging is assumed; trying to have any secret communication is a real challenge. It doesn't appear that the murder will ever be solved, as there are many political concerns, foremost of which is the upcoming election of a new Russian president. It doesn't help that the British Embassy administration is completely incompetent and inept, further complicating the precarious situation. Every encounter between the principals is a dizzying mesh of political and strategic machinations. I found myself lost quite a few times in the narrative, trying vainly to hold on to the thread of what was going on at any given moment. Charlie has another reason for being in Russian in addition to his assignment. He has not seen his Russian wife, Natalia, and daughter, Sasha, in 5 years. It is his mission to convince Natalia to give up her post with the FSB (former KGB) and return to England with him. He is even willing to leave MI5 in order to make this happen. It's not a given that Natalia will agree; but in their meetings with one another she doesn't entirely shut the door to the possibility. Although I found the plot overly complicated with far too many characters with far too many secrets, the book resolved in a most satisfactory fashion. Charlie had a few aces up his sleeve that he played on the last hand. What remains unresolved is where his life is going to go after this book. Will there be a fifteenth Charlie Muffin book? Fans of the series will certainly hope so.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, September 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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