The Private Sector
To find an old friend, a past-his-prime spy steps into a war zone
When Henry Edwards recruited him to work as an intelligence officer, Peter Marlow was young enough that espionage seemed romantic. They were in Cairo during the Suez Crisis, two young spies haunting dinner parties and back alleys in search of morsels of information that were never as important as they seemed. A decade later, espionage has lost its sheen, and Henry confesses to Peter that he's considering resignation. A few days later, he's gone.
Is Henry dead, or is he planning to defect? Either way, the service wants him buried. Peter is sent to Cairo in search of his old friend. But as war looms over Israel and the Arab states, and President Nasser's life comes under threat, Peter's task becomes more challenging than he would like. Espionage is a young man's game, and more than ever before, he feels close to the grave.
ThePrivate Sector is the first book in the Peter Marlow Mystery series, which also includes The Sixth Directorate and The Valley of the Fox.
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Joseph Hone
Joseph Hone was a British author of spy novels. Born in London, he was sent to Dublin in 1939, and spent most of the next two decades living in Ireland. His first novel, The Private Sector (1971), introduced the globetrotting spy Peter Marlow - the character for whom Hone would become best known. Set during the Six Day War, The Private Sector was well received by critics, who have compared it to the work of Eric Ambler, Len Deighton, and John Le Carré.
Hone published three more titles in the series The Sixth Directorate (1975), The Flowers of the Forest (1980), and The Valley of the Fox (1982) before moving on to other work.
In addition to his espionage fiction, Hone also found success in travel writing.
The Peter Marlow Mysteries
The Peter Marlow Mysteries consists of four books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
