Zigzag

Agent Zigzag is a non-fiction book about a low life British crook who falls in with the Nazis for the sole purpose of working as a double agent for the British in WWII. It was interesting. I got a different view of the German spy machine. They weren't very effective. Actually, they were a bit like the early CIA - filled with upper crust men who didn't have the aptitude for the job, just breeding. What I liked best was that I heard again about Ian Fleming and his role in war time espionage. The body that was planted to wash up in Italy was also mentioned. The goal was plant information on the body that indicated the invasion of the continent would take place in Italy as opposed to Normandy. You may recall that I read about this in the stupid spy thriller I read earlier this year. What tosh. But now I'm interested in that dead man. A movie was made eons ago about him. It's called The Man Who Never Was. It is now on my Netflix list. There was a movie made about Agent Zigzag, as well, but it isn't in Netflix. This was an interesting story. He was a con man and grifter. Perfect for the spy world.

My friend, Dean, liked that I had read a J.A. Jance book last month. So I got another and read it next. I have another of those looooong books going on, American Caesar by William Manchester. He was so unbelievably repugnant in The Longest Winter, I had to know more. When I was reading Goodbye, Darkness by Manchester, I looked at his previous books and saw this one listed. I'm glad I'm reading it. He is a right nasty man and the book is fascinating; but it is very long and needs to be broken into bits. He is now in the Philippines at the dawn of WWII. He's made a mess of that, the Japanese bombers are on their way. I'm ducking under a table for a little bit before I get back to that horror.

Fictional horror is easier to take. Without Due Process is set in Seattle again. The detective even goes over to Mercer Island on the floating bridge. My dear friend Maureen lived on Mercer for years and I've been over that bridge a fair number of times. There is nothing improbable in this book, which is high praise. I like the protagonist and there are interesting things happening. What more can you ask for when you are trying to avoid Japanese dive bombers? So, Dean, this is the one about Gentle Ben being killed along with most of the members of his family. Why would someone kill this paragon among black male detectives? I'm not clear about why this is called Without Due Process, but I liked the book.

Biggest news is, I'm moving. The apartment we were planning to move to after my couple of years in D.C. is coming available in April. So, after a bit of deliberation, Adrian and I decided to move up there now while I'm still young. He will be staying there, closer to family and making new friends. I feel bad about taking him away from his friends and then leaving him in June/July, but we should get fairly settled before I leave. The thought of being up there is wonderful. The thought of dealing with all my cr stuff down here is daunting. Also the thought of leaving MY friends is sad. But I've already prepared myself for that since I will be living on the other side of the US for a while. Thank goodness for Gchat and email. I can even talk to my friends in India any time I want, so what's a couple of hundred or thousand miles among friends?