A Charlie Chaplin War: Two novels of British Intelligence in World War 1

Summary

Two novels inspired by the author’s personal experience in British Intelligence during the First World War: in which Naval Intelligence officer Roger Waterlow, stuck ashore in a sweltering country in South-eastern Europe, and working from scraps of gossip gathered by his ramshackle network of agents, struggles to make a real difference in the war, against the indifference and incompetence of the British authorities. First, in Extremes Meet, he seeks to show up a blatant violation of the country’s ‘neutrality’ by its pro-German king; and then, in The Three Couriers, he attempts to capture the papers of messengers carrying incriminating correspondence to Berlin that might give the Entente powers vital insights into German intentions.