Bøker av George Edmonds-Brown

Peter Parker, a young British diplomat in Ceau┼ƒescu’s Romania, goes on a trade promotion visit, with Stefan Teduscu a locally engaged Commercial Officer. He recklessly has a one-night stand with a local girl. Stefan, secretly a member of the Romanian Secret Service, discovers his indiscretion. Peter returns to Bucharest feeling anxious and guilty and watching every shadow. He gets involved with Mavis his boss’ secretary and makes her pregnant.Twenty years later, Peter arrives in Barbados as the British High Commissioner. After an incident at the airport, Peter’s posting rapidly goes downhill. He struggles to deal with the incompetence of Angus, his alcoholic deputy, and his own character weaknesses.Life gets even more complicated when Stefan, now a dubious businessman, turns up as the leader of a Trade Mission and tries to blackmail him. Meanwhile Nicu, a problem solver for a South American cartel, is contracted to eliminate Stefan; a task which he addresses enthusiastically.Concern is being felt at the top of the Foreign Office that all is not well in Barbados. Peter’s efforts to control his rapidly deteriorating work and family situation and Nicu’s vain attempts to despatch Stefan dissolve into near farce, reaching a climax at a Reception in the High Commissioner’s Residence.

Diplomats, Spies and Assassins is a book of seventeen short stories. The stories take us into Africa, Pakistan, Europe, South America and Japan, over a period of forty years. We encounter many of the same characters in the different stories, as they follow their chosen careers.Eleven of the stories focus on the competitive relationship between Arthur Deane, an MI6 officer, and George Stanca, a senior Securitate state security officer in Ceaucescu’s dark Romania. The two also clash in their private lives, as they compete for the affections of an attractive Japanese diplomat, leading to a bitter rivalry which almost costs them their lives.We follow the career of Alan Parsons, a British diplomat, from his first faltering steps in Africa, to his development into a confident and competent officer.Penny Morden, an MI6 high flyer, suffers personal tragedy as she progresses to the senior levels of the Service, and finds personal contentment and happiness in her retirement years.Vladimir Ivanov, a Russian Assassin, occasionally pops out of the background to practice his deadly art.The main characters meet up in the final story, ‘The Colloquium'. Vladimir embarks in a final effort to eliminate his target, who had escaped his previous attempt, through muddle and confusion.The stories aim to give an insight into life in British Embassies and High Commissions overseas, and the environment in the countries in which they operate. Many of the events are based on fact, but a significant amount of imagination is used as the stories develop.