Basil's war A novel

Hunter, author of the Bob Lee Swagger series starring an American master sniper, now changes directions, geographically, temperamentally, and almost every other way. Basil St. Florian is a British agent with Churchill's Special Operations Executive in WWII; he is everything Swagger isn't: an English aristocrat with a flair for the outrageous, known for "trysts with American actresses and fights with Argentinian polo players," who becomes a spy and puts his talent for subterfuge to unfailingly flamboyant use. His latest assignment finds him parachuting into occupied France in 1943, tasked with photographing pages from a rare religious tract that the Nazis are using as the basis of a book code. Tracked by a wily German spy hunter, Basil cavorts about Paris, staying a half step ahead of his pursuer. There is plenty of suspense here, but the tone is delightfully jaunty, as this "human relic of the Kipling imagination," seemingly on the verge of capture, finds himself appalled at landing in a situation that appears to be "bereft of irony." The same can't be said of a novel written by a man known for gunplay and straight-ahead action. Hunter's remarkable versatility is on full view in this utterly charming caper, and fortunately there appears to be a sequel in the offing, in which we devoutly hope that Basil's delayed tryst with Vivien Leigh will finally come to fruition.

British Army Capt. Basil St. Florian, the hero of this terrific WWII thriller from bestseller Hunter (the Bob Lee Swagger series), is known for his wit, his bravery as a Special Operations Executive agent, and as a man who enjoys dating film stars like Vivien Leigh. In the spring of 1943, Basil parachutes into Nazi-occupied France, steals some identity papers, and catches a train to Paris, where his mission is to photograph pages from The Path to Jesus, a rare 18th-century pamphlet written by a Scottish ecclesiastic held in the library of a Paris museum. Stealing the pamphlet would alert the enemy that the British know the Nazis are using it as the basis of a secret code. Deciphering the code is key to catching a traitor employed at Bletchley Park, the Allied code-breaking center in England. The Nazis figure out a British spy is among them, and a clever German counterintelligence agent is soon hot on Basil's trail. Hunter adopts a breezy, boys' adventure book style that complements Basil's derring-do exploits. Readers will hope Basil will soon be back for more. (May)