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Joseph Hone
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The Oxford Gambit (The Peter Marlow Mysteries) Kindle Edition

by Joseph Hone (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 6 ratings
See all formats and editions
Bored and broke, Marlow quits retirement to search for a mole within MI6
It’s springtime in Scotland, and an aging spy is tending to his bees. Smoke rises from his bellows as he looks in on the colony for the first time since winter. When his wife goes to check on him, the bellows are still smoking but her husband has disappeared. He may be dead, he may be kidnapped—or he may have gone over to the other side. To locate the missing beekeeper, the secret service turns to Peter Marlow, a veteran agent who is finding retirement no substitute for life in the field. He soon discovers a byzantine Russian conspiracy, of which the vanished spy is either the architect or the victim, operating deep within British intelligence. In the shadows of this secretive government agency, there are more pressing dangers than the sting of a frightened honeybee.  The Oxford Gambit is the third book in the Peter Marlow Mystery series, which also includes The Sixth Directorate and The Valley of the Fox.
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  1. Book 3 of 4
    The Peter Marlow Mysteries
  2. Print length
    551 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
  6. Publication date
    July 9, 2013
  7. File size
    2714 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Espionage action of the Deighton or le Carré variety.” —The New York Times “[Hone’s] tone is nearly perfect—quiet, morbidly ironic, beautifully controlled and sustained, moodily introspective, occasionally humorous and more often bitter, with a persistent undertone of unspeakable sadness and irrecoverable loss.” —The Washington Post “Mr. Hone writes Len Deighton into the ground . . . goes roaring confidently up to the front line.” —New Statesman

About the Author

Joseph Hone (b. 1937) is a British author of spy novels. Born in London, he was sent to Dublin in 1939, and spent most of the next two decades living in Ireland. His first novel, The Private Sector (1971), introduced the globetrotting spy Peter Marlow—the character for whom Hone would become best known. Set during the Six Day War, The Private Sector was well received by critics, who have compared it to the work of Eric Ambler, Len Deighton, and John le Carré. Hone published three more titles in the series—The Sixth Directorate (1975), The Flowers of the Forest (1980), and The Valley of the Fox (1982)—before moving on to other work. In addition to his espionage fiction, Hone has found success in travel writing. His most recent books include Wicked Little Joe (2009), a memoir, and Goodbye Again (2011).     

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00DHH127S
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ MysteriousPress.com/Open Road (July 9, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 9, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2714 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 551 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

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Joseph Hone

Joseph Hone

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
6 global ratings

Top review from the United States

nh91606
2.0 out of 5 stars Hone is no Le Carre
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2016
Verified Purchase
No suspense but plenty of purple prose. "We arrived in the evening, running down the long slopes of the Salzburg motorway into a huge flat valley that lay beneath us like a plum-colored sea, with a pale, blue velvet haze all over it, pricked everywhere with light." I don't know if this was ever turned into a movie, but it reads as if it were designed for that purpose.
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2016
Verified Purchase
Excellent book and excellent service.
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M. Duncan
4.0 out of 5 stars A superior spy thriller
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2009
Verified Purchase
Okay. I'm assuming that before you read this, you've already read Private Sector and Sixth Directorate. If so, you probably don't need to read this review, because you'll buy this book anyway, just to get another fix of Hone's superbly poetic prose, dense plotting and fine characterization - not to mention exciting spy business. Each of the Peter Marlow thrillers are very different, almost as if the author is trying his hand at a different type of book each time. Oxford Gambit, then, is a mostly UK-based uncovering-the-mole story along the lines of Tinker, Tailor... As with all his books, Hone sometimes frustrates the reader by leading them down all kinds of seemingly irrelevant pathways for pages at a time. In fact, these digressions are what lend the series its authenticity. Then suddenly, and quite brutally, something unexpected will happen, and it will be all the more shocking for its suddenness.
Yes, the plot is contrived; some story elements are far-fetched, but, as usual, it is the triumphant characterization of Marlow that raises the book above the level of the average thriller. Marlow, the reluctant spy, demonstrates an intelligence, humour and humanity that makes him seem to walk off the page into life. Worth reading for this alone.
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