Lyall is a vastly under appreciated British thriller/ action adventure/spy writer of the mid to latter part of the 20 th century, right up there with Deighton, LeCarre, Fleming and others. And his knowledge of history was outstanding. This novel, one of the books in the Hnourable spy trilogy set during the First World War crystallizes his talent. Literate, exciting, historically accurate and fun to read. Highly recommend.

Honour among spies?
The start of the Secret Service Bureau, royal intrigue, adventure, murder, and mayhem.
Some sad parts, lots of amusing sections--all in all, a most enjoyable read.

If this book were better, it would be called "many layered." On the surface it is a spy thriller set just before WWI in England and France. It combines broad elements of comedy with brutality and grit, kind of James Bond meets Reilly Ace of Spies. It adds in apparently serious criticisms of covert government actions in the name of national security, and quite a lot of high and low history.

There's nothing wrong with a book having multiple ambitions, but the author is not up to the task of combining them. The book is too slowly and unevenly paced to be thrilling, but too many pages are devoted to explaining the complex spy plot for the comedy to build. The serious history doesn't mix well with the silly story. As a satire, it has no bite.

Overall, it's still a pleasant read if you take it one scene at a time, and don't expect anything in the nature of climax or resolution.

This has a slow start for a thriller but I liked all the detail in the book. The Palace, the Bureau, the law, the British and French police are all involved in covering up what could be a royal scandal. It was first published in 1999 and has been reprinted by Agora Books. I think Lyall probably wrote better books than this but I love a spy thriller, enjoyed this and found it realistic about the moral ambiguities of spying.

I had never read any of Gavin Lyall's novels before this one and knew nothing about him. As I read this excellent novel, I wondered if he had actually been in the fledgling Secret Service before the First World War. After finishing the book, I looked him up on t'Internet....

Gavin Lyall wasn't born until 1932 and died in 2003, only a few years after writing Honourable Intentions, but he captured pre-WWI England and France beautifully in this adventure. I genuinely felt he must have been there from the way he describes a Secret Service so new that its staff bought their own furniture for the office.

It's 1913. An Englishman is accused of setting fire to a French police station and the French authorities have applied for extradition. Unfortunately, if that is successful, the young man has threatened to announce that he is the illegitimate son of King George V, who is making a royal visit to France the following week. For reasons that passed me by, the embarassment that such an announcement will cause is likely to threaten the fabric of society and strike at the heart of the UK's peaceful existence. The Secret Service must - somehow - prevent the announcement being made. There's murder, shoot-outs, attempts to find the boy's mother and many other events that carry the plot along to a satisfying conclusion.

I was a little surprised that the book wasn't written in the first person, given that Captain Ranklin is on almost every page. However, the third person narrative allows us to follow a couple of other characters when they split off from Rankin. It came as a shock when one of them died.

This is a cracking book, written by a man who was only fourteen when WWII ended, yet initially fooled me into thinking he was around before WWI. Although it is the fourth novel (and turned out to be the last) in Lyall's Honour series, it was satisfactorily standalone. I'll look for the others in the series but I really don't think it matters if I had never read any of Gavin Lyall's novels before this one and knew nothing about him. As I read this excellent novel, I wondered if he had actually been in the fledgling Secret Service. After finishing the book, I looked him up on t'Internet....

Gavin Lyall wasn't born until 1932 and died in 2003, only a few years after writing Honourable Intentions, but he captured pre-WW1 England and France beautifully in this adventure. I genuinely felt he must have been there from the way he describes a Secret Service so new that its staff bought their own furniture for the office.

It's 1913. An Englishman is accused of setting fire to a French police station and the French authorities have applied for extradition. Unfortunately, if that is successful, the young man has threatened to announce that he is the illegitimate son of King George V, who is making a royal visit to France the following week. For reasons that passed me by, the embarassment that such an announcement will cause is likely to threaten the fabric of society and strike at the heart of the UK's peaceful existence. The Secret Service must - somehow - prevent the announcement being made. There's murder, shoot-outs, attempts to find the boy's mother and many other events that carry the plot along to a satisfying conclusion.

I was a little surprised that the book wasn't written in the first person, given that Captain Ranklin is on almost every page. However, the third person narrative allows us to follow a couple of other characters when they split off from Rankin. It came as a shock when one of them died.

This is a cracking book. Although it if the fourth novel (and turned out to be the last) in Lyall's Honour series, it was satisfactorily standalone. I'll look for the others in the series but I really don't think it matters if they get read in a random order.

#HonourableIntentions #NetGalley

Anarchists, deplorable Russians, licentious women, an illegitimate son of a king who romped about, ethical dilemmas, and who is who - a brew for an amusing, well wriiten spy story. And the English class system pokes its head up, too. The writing is rich and full and seems to be of a more literate time. A delight.

An intriguing thriller taking place in 1914 on the eve of World War I. With an engaging but mismatched protagonists, thy are members of the newly created British Secret Service. They are set to work when there is a potential for a scandal to touch the King. With the possible criminals being a bunch of French anarchists, thee is plenty of action.