Scotland Yard's Sergeant Troy returns in a WWII thriller praised as an "absorbing blend of espionage and detection" ( The Denver Post ). It is 1941. Wolfgang Stahl, an American spy operating undercover as an SS officer, has just fled Germany with Hitler's henchmen on his trail. Stahl's man in the American embassy, the shy and sheltered Calvin M. Cormack, is teamed with a boisterous MI5 officer, Walter Stilton, to find the spy and bring him to safety. Their investigation takes them across war-torn London, and in Cormack's case, into the arms of Kitty, his partner's rambunctious daughter. As Cormack and Stilton close in on Stahl, bodies begin turning up—and the duo realize they may not be the only ones in pursuit of the spy. When his partner is suddenly murdered, Cormack must turn to the ingenious devices of his lover Kitty's old flame—Sergeant Troy of Scotland Yard. Together, they investigate the trail of murders and come to a horrifying realization: Cormack and his spy are being played by one of their own in the American embassy. "The blend of Lawton's fictional creations with real characters like Churchill . . . produces a rich and juicy montage that throbs with life." —Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune In the third escapade of aristocrat copper Freddie Troy to reach U.S. shores, it is spring 1941, and while Britain hunkers down under sporadic bombing and the daily privations of war, America and Russia look idly on with ill-fated apathy. High-ranking spy Wolfgang Stahl flees Berlin, and his American contact, Captain Cal Cormack, teams up in a transatlantic odd couple with hardy Chief Inspector Stilton, following the desultory trail of the turncoat Nazi and sundry other German spies and assassins dodging about the ruined hulks and malodorous bomb shelters of London. On the gangly frame of these Buchanesque exploits hang intriguing snippets of history, a bit of social comedy, and a teeming cast of odd birds, such as Winston Churchill's ballistics-whiz brother Bob and randy Kitty, "either naked or getting naked." Troy of the Murder Squad is attacked with a potato peeler whilst playing his rather incidental role. The suspense is fairly slack, and moments of gravity tend to ring hollow amid all the chipper stoicism, but no matter: there's a war on, mate! Or, as Stilton's oft-employed Dickensian tagline puts it, "Wot Larx!" David Wright Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “A gorgeous reminder that London during the Blitz was the most heroic, most romantic, most dramatic moment of the unhappy 20th century. [ Bluffing Mr. Churchill ] is above all else Lawton’s tribute to the courage of his countryman when they stood alone against Hitler. . . . If you haven’t discovered Lawton, this is the ideal starting point. . . . [Lawton’s] books should not be missed by anyone who seeks superior popular entertainment.” — Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post Book World “[A] superior espionage tale. . . . As always, Lawton’s characters are morally complex, his plots intelligent and his sense of atmospherics acute. You can almost hear the buzz bombs and smell the acrid odor of the underground shelters.” — Adam Woog, The Seattle Times “Lawton returns to the World War II London Blitz setting of Black Out. . .with equal skill and energy, producing an intriguing, stimulating, all-too-plausible story. . . . The blend of Lawton’s fictional creations with real characters like Winston Churchill. . . produces a rich and juicy montage that throbs with life.” — Dick Adler, The Chicago Tribune “A spy novel tightly wrapped into a murder mystery. . . . The Troy series establishes Lawton in the first rank of British popular fiction. The stories are at once deeply personal and globally important. Bluffing Mr. Churchill offers keen insights into the development of the character that will delight fans of his other books and serve as a valuable introduction to readers just discovering them. It is also a gripping and gritty sojourn through an already-dangerous London demimonde, made all the more treacherous by the brutalities of war. That it is equally successful as an espionage thriller and a detective story is proof that John Lawton is a potent storyteller.” — L.D. Meagher, CNN.com “Another absorbing blend of espionage and detection. . . . The book is enlivened by bits of humor and by the larger-than-life presence of Walter Stilton.” — Tom and Enid Schantz, The Denver Post “ Bluffing Mr. Churchill is as much about the politics of war and the myopia of world leaders as it is a thriller. . . . You can’t help but think you are eavesdropping in John Lawton’s exquisitely scripted novel. . . . The slang, the food, the lifestyles, the Cockney characters—all are so perfectly captured that form frequently eclipses function in this splendid thriller.” — Ann Hellmuth, Orlando Sentinel “Filled with double dealing and duplicity at every level, Bluffing Mr. Churchill is a tightly plotted and atmospheric tale of intrigue. It al