BOOK REVIEW: Mrs Spy/Aria Books
By M.J. Robotham
Reviewed by: Anne and Jay Guner
The Reviewer — Anne and Jay Gruner were career CIA officers in analysis and operations, respectively. Anne, former Deputy Director of WINPAC, is a Pushcart nominee whose fiction, essays, poetry, and book reviews have appeared in numerous publications. Her memoir essay, Nuclear Child, is presently a finalist for the Dogwood Prize and nominated for a Pushcart Prize and The Best American Essays. Jay served as Chief of Station in multiple countries and as an area division chief, and founded J.K. Gruner Associates, a business intelligence consultancy. Anne and Jay live in McLean, Virginia with their two golden retrievers. https://www.annegruner.com/
REVIEW — Mrs. Spyby M.J. (Mandy) Robotham is an absorbing and face-paced historical drama that takes place in London in the mid-1960s. World War II remains in the background and the Cold War is bubbling, with an extremely active KGB and multiple spy and political scandals fresh in the air, including the Cambridge spy ring, the Vassall affair, double agent George Blake, and the Profumo Affair.
The author vividly captures the tension of the period centered upon MI5, the U.K.’s domestic counterintelligence and security service, then shrouded in secrecy and public wariness of overreach and misguided actions. Amidst the turmoil of the times, the hero, the middle-aged Maggie Flynn, Mrs. Spy, aka “Mags” or “Magpie,” pursues the mystery of her husband’s death on the back streets of London. The reader literally escapes into Robotham’s detailed and delightful portrayal of London’s swinging 1960s from Mary Quant fashions to pub G & Ts and pickled eggs, a refreshing breakaway to a simpler age, though one not lacking in complication. Mrs. Spy’s evocation of readers’ nostalgia for lost times parallels Mags’ palpable longing for her deceased husband, which gives her strength and determination to pursue answers at all costs.
Maggie’s husband dies three years before the story begins when he is allegedly hit by a drunk driver late at night in West London. Suspicious, Mags, who was an ambulance driver during the Blitz and one-time security detective in a London department store, insists on seeing the body, on which pathologists have worked to conceal stab wounds from an apparent murder. When Maggie demands to know what’s “really” going on, two grey-suited men show up at her house in Highbury London, where she lives with her mother and daughter, and learns that her late husband had worked for MI5 for the last 16 years, supposedly doing “surveillance” as an “intelligence officer.” While she knew he had done some special operations during the war, all this time Maggie had believed he was a salesperson for a stationery company. When the suits ask her to sign MI5’s Official Secrets Act regarding her husband’s employment, she has one condition: she wants a job.
Thus begins Maggie’s career as an MI5 “Watcher.” Such Watchers, still used today and known as “mobile surveillance officers”, conducted surveillance throughout London during and after World War II to keep track of Soviet and other diplomats exiting their London embassies, and also the occasional misbehaving Member of Parliament, cabinet official, or other suspected spy, including Kim Philby. Specially trained and equipped with a stable of various clothing outfits and disguises, they were considered the lowest of the low intelligence officers on the status ladder and were referred to as “Donkeys.” It is in the course of her daily duties as a donkey that Maggie comes into a seemingly serendipitous contact with a Russian KGB defector, who is being debriefed in an MI5 safehouse where she is “babysitting.” A phrase the defector uses, something her husband used to say, results in Maggie subtly probing her new Russian acquaintance until she makes an astonishing deduction. Her husband had not sold stationery but had been an MI5 operative and many years ago had recruited this KGB officer and been in contact with him up until his death. Within Maggie this discovery stirs up more questions than it answers about her husband’s death, who might have killed him, and why. Haunted by his memory and perplexing thoughts, she resolves to get to the bottom of it and begins to investigate. Soon, one thing leads to another, and she comes to the attention of the intelligence and defense establishments. But the question is why.
Sign up for The Cipher Brief’s Nightcap newsletter: the best way to unwind every day while still staying up to speed on national security.Sign up today.
The action increases at a rapid pace as Maggie enlists the support of a close friend, an assistant to the Defence Minister, as well as Donkey co-worker Frank, who is a retired police detective. Using creative cover stories, disguises, and ingenuity Maggie and Frank uncover a highly compartmented and illegal activity being conducted by the British Government and managed by MI5 and the Defense Secretary. The operation outside of London would shock the conscience of Londoners and easily bring down the government should it be revealed. As the operation’s perpetrators get wind of Maggie’s activities, her life and Frank’s—along with the lives of her mother and daughter—are endangered. Their close shaves, entailing chases through London’s streets and slithering through a cemetery, make for considerable excitement as the two Donkeys sort their next step with the help of an unexpected ally.
Of particular interest is Robotham’s characterization of MI5 in the mid-60’s as an organization deeply divided by rank and social standing in British society as well as its treatment of women, which may sound familiar to some more seasoned readers. Unlike American intelligence services, however, the Watcher’s job is solely to conduct surveillances of individuals and installations. They have but a tenuous relationship with their supervisors and work out of their own separate “Stable” rather than MI5 Headquarters, referred to as the “Spy Shack.” MI5 and MI6, the foreign intelligence service, are “old boys’ networks,” with women not allowed into the “Club.” Sixty years later, MI5 has had two female directors and women now make up a sizable portion of its work force. History remains important, however, as you never know when it might repeat.
It is evident that Robotham, a former journalist, has done her research as she superbly captures the tenor of the day to create a plot that is both frightening and of international concern. It is beautifully written with British colloquialisms and engaging metaphors. Some professional operatives may quibble with tradecraft details such as a British MI5 officer meeting his agent in an East Berlin hotel after the Wall was built, or an active KGB officer attending a reception at the French Embassy under cover as a “French diplomat.” Also, some might wish the author had explained the ultimate purpose of the Government’s extra-legal, mind-numbing secret operation.
As suggested above, Mrs. Spy is more serious than some of the book’s advance publicity might suggest, and there is more to it than a tale of government treachery. Escaping into the 1960s London culture, including a search for Fab Four tickets, will attract and quench many readers’ thirst.
The Cipher Brief participates in the Amazon Affiliate program and may make a small commission from purchases made via links.
Interested in submitting a book review? Send an email to Editor@thecipherbrief.com with your idea.
Sign up for our free Undercover newsletter to make sure you stay on top of all of the new releases and expert reviews.
Read more expert-driven national security insights, perspective and analysis in The Cipher Brief because National Security is Everyone’s Business.
