The private sector

Eric Ambler, John Buchan, Erskine Childers, Arthur Conan Doyle, Joseph Conrad, Len Deighton, Ian Fleming, Frederick Forsyth, Graham Greene, Geoffrey Household, John le Carre, Robert Ludlum and Joseph Hone. What do they have in common? They wrote spy thrillers and all have appeared in a recent survey of the fifty best books in that genre. Although he may be the least known the inclusion of Joseph Hone was not eccentric. The particular title chosen was The Private Sector the first of his Peter Marlow titles. The author and the title are fully deserving of this accolade. The time is May, 1967 in…