The Spy in Moscow Station by Eric Haseltine

book description TEXT
In the late 1970s, the National Security Agency still did not officially exist―those in the know referred to it dryly as the No Such Agency. So why, when NSA engineer Charles Gandy filed for a visa to visit Moscow, did the Russian Foreign Ministry assert with confidence that he was a spy?

Outsmarting honey traps and encroaching deep enough into enemy territory to perform complicated technical investigations, Gandy accomplished his mission in Russia, but discovered more than State and CIA wanted him to know.

REVIEW:
I really enjoyed this book for the history involved, but admit it made for a pretty dry read throughout. This particular infiltration was so technical that it was beyond my comprehension despite the detailed explanations provided. Perhaps a communications expert would get more out of those details – as a reader, I would have preferred a broader overview. I found it all fascinating to be sure, but hard to slog through at times.

A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss

It's 1957, and the famed theater critic A. S. Crystal has come to the British seaside resort of Brighton with something other than the local production of A Shilling in the Meter on his mind. Sitting in the Brighton Royal Theater with Constable Twitten, Crystal intends to tell the detective the secret he knows about the still-unsolved Aldersgate Stick-Up case of 1945. And yet, just before Crystal names the criminal mastermind involved, he's shot dead in his seat.

With a new murder case on his hands and a lazy captain at the helm of the police department, the keen and clever Constable Twitten and his colleague Sargent Jim Brunswick set out to solve the decade-old mystery of the Aldersgate Stick-Up. As the partners venture deep into the criminal underworld that lies beneath Brighton's holiday-happy veneer, they begin to discover a criminal conspiracy that dates back decades. But will Brunswick and Twitten be able to foil the mastermind, or will Crystal's death become just another unsolved crime in this seemingly peaceful seaside city?

REVIEW:
I loved this book right up until the end, but ultimately was disappointed with the finale (I won't say more because I don't want to be a spoiler!) Well-written and fast-moving, this book was a delight to read. I loved the tone, the vocabulary, and the interesting cast of characters populating this Brighton book, and will likely pick the next installment to see how things go for the brilliant yet unlucky Constable Twitten.