Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler
Eric Ambler’s masterly 1938 novel, Epitaph for a Spy, is invigorated by Paul Blow’s stylish, graphic
illustrations in this new Folio Society edition. Stella Rimington, a
former Director General of MI5 and now a novelist herself, has contributed an
introduction in which she celebrates Ambler’s unique position in the pantheon
alongside Buchan and le Carré.
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| ©Paul Blow. 2013 |
Josef Vadassy, a Hungarian refugee and language
teacher, has saved up enough money to take a short holiday, his first in five
years, at a small hotel on the Côte d’Azur. When he brings his photographs to
be developed by a local chemist, he finds himself arrested on suspicion of
being a spy, accused of photographing a secret naval base. The discovery that his camera has been
switched is no guarantee of freedom; in order to escape imprisonment, he must
find out which of his fellow guests at the Hôtel de la Réserve is the true spy.
A multi award-winning crime writer, Eric Ambler
takes a hapless everyman and plunges him into a mission that is both
understated
and believable. There are no car chases, bombs or gunfights, yet
Ambler is capable of building scenes to a point of almost unbearable tension. A
casualty of the upheavals of the 20th century, Vadassy is a refugee who lives
in fear of being deported. While Ambler
believed that casting his hero in this way made the book less popular, it was
nonetheless filmed in 1944 as Hotel Reserve with James Mason as Vadassy.
Today it remains a powerful psychological thriller.
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| ©Paul Blow. 2013 |
Epitaph for a Spy by Eric Ambler is due to be published on 5th September 2013. £27.95
The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
Considered one of the finest thrillers in the
English language, The Tiger in the Smoke
by Margery Allingham is the gripping story of a ruthless killer and his victims,
hunters and allies. The Folio Society’s new edition features a specially
commissioned introduction by Alexander
McCall Smith, who writes that it is both for its ‘vivid characterisation and its social detail’ that The Tiger in the Smoke remains a
classic. Illustrations by Finn
Campbell-Notman evoke the ghastly charisma of malevolent Jack Hovoc – the
‘Tiger’ of the title – and the atmosphere of the ‘Smoke’, the ineluctable fog
that creeps through the dingy alleyways and secluded squares of post-war London. |
| © Finn Campbell-Notman 2013 |
While ranking alongside crime classics such as The Franchise Affair and Cover Her Face, The Tiger in
the Smoke
is also unusual among golden-age mystery novels
for its meditations on human imperfection, in particular the notions of madness and evil. Allingham’s characters and settings are beautifully drawn, among them
Albert Campion, the reserved, likeable sleuth who appeared in 14 of her novels
and remains her most famous creation. Margery Allingham deserves to be seen as
a master of the genre. The Tiger in the Smoke is published on 15th September 2013.
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| © Finn Campbell-Notman 2013 |
For over 65 years The Folio Society has been
publishing beautiful illustrated editions of the world's greatest books. We
believe that the literary content of a book should be matched by its physical
form. With specially commissioned illustrations, many of our editions are
further enhanced with introductions written by leading figures in their fields:
novelists, journalists, academics, scientists and artists.
 |
| © Finn Campbell-Notman 2013 |
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