London Match by Len Deighton

published 1985

[An important and highly-secret spy meeting is taking place, with the Director-General of the department being informed of progress in a vital defection case]

It was while Bret was in full flow that a man came in through the door with a bundle of cloth under his arm. The D-G stood up, solemnly removed his jacket, and gave it to the newcomer who hung it on a hanger and put it into the wardrobe that was built into one wall… ‘Don’t worry about Bony,’ said the D-G, indicating the stranger. ‘He was with me in the war. He’s vetted.’

‘It’s rather delicate, sir,’ said Bret.

‘I’ll be gone in three minutes,’ said Bony, a short man in a tight-fitting grey worsted three-piece suit. He hung a partly-made jacket onto the D-G and, apparently oblivious to us all, stood back to inspect the D-G’s appearance. Then he made some chalk marks on the jacket and began to rip pieces off it the way tailors do…

Bret said, ‘We have excellent prospects, Sir Henry. It would be criminal to throw away a chance like this.’

‘How long do you want?’ said the D-G.

Bony looked at him to see if he was asking about the delivery time of the suit, decided it wasn’t a question for him, and said, ‘I want you to look at the wool, Sir Henry.’

observations: This scene is a tour de force, as the spies and the tailor fight for the D-G’s attention, and try to work out which of them his responses are aimed at: ‘I’m not very keen on that’, Sir Henry says – a sample of cloth, or a decision about interrogation? The tailor speaks to the bossman - ‘Keep still, sir!’ – in a way none of his work underlings would. The whole section is hilarious.

Can’t say much about the plot of this one, as it follows on from, and spoilers, Berlin Game and Mexico Set. But it is a worthy follow-up to them, full of excitement, tension and interest. Bernard Samson and the rest of his department are trying to work out what is going on with a defector, and head off to the outpost where he is being held. As they go through security:

‘They’re rude bastards,’ said Bret as if his definition was something I should write down and consult at future visits.

There is also a rather splendid shootout in a dismal launderette, and yet more detail of Berlin life – why Berliners are different from other Germans, and why other Germans hate the city and its residents.

There is a young woman called Gloria, who is described in the previous book like this:

If Botticelli had painted the box top for a Barbie doll the picture would have looked like Gloria Kent

One of the great things about Deighton (well from this blog’s point of view anyway) is that he tells you all the time what the characters are wearing – but it has to be said, Gloria has more different nighties than seems likely for a young woman of her age in the 1980s.

The picture, from the NY Public Library, is a publicity still for One-Two-Three, a play by Ferenc Molnar, performed in New York in 1930.

For previous entries on this series, click on Deighton’s name below.

Rich Westwood, over at Past Offences, is also working his way through this series – you can find his review of London Match here.