When Drink to Yesterday first appeared in Britain in 1940 and in the U.S. in 1941, it was immediately heralded as a departure from the fanciful spy-and-intrigue novels that preceded it. Gone were complicated passwords, deadly dames in black velvet, and dashing aristocratic secret agents. Here, instead, was what Howard Haycraft, the genre’s first historian, termed “a mood of subtle understatement,” calling Drink to Yesterday and its immediate sequel, A Toast to Tomorrow, “superior” examples of this revamped genre. Drink to Yesterday was based on the early life of one of its two collaborators, Cyril Henry Coles, who left school, lied about his age and enlisted as a teenager in the British army during World War I. He was transferred to intelligence when his remarkable aptitude for conversational German was noticed, and he became the youngest member of Britain’s Foreign Intelligence Office (later MI6). Like Bill Saunders of the book, Coles spent much of the rest of war working behind enemy lines. Coles and his collaborator, a Hampshire neighbor, Adelaide Oke Manning, chose to cast his story in the form of the novel so as not to run afoul of the Official Secrets Act. Grimmer than later books in the series, it’s also an ingenious circular story of murder, enlivened by the sardonic humor of Bill’s mentor, Tommy Hambledon.
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When the British Admiralty asks British Intelligence for help in nailing down saboteurs, it's Tommy Hambledon, that told China hand at espionage, who is sent to the Portsmouth naval base. Hambledon is to meet a dockyard workman "with a story to tell." The workman arrives at the rendezvous all right, only to be shot dead before he can open his mouth. Hambledon, hampered by a romantically inclined colleague, and practically cluesless, must now proceed to put a name and a face to a cold-blooded adversary...fast!
British agent Tommy Hambledon heads back to Nazi Germany impersonating a scientist who has developed a new and powerful explosive. First published in 1945.
With the Nazis vanguished, British agent Tommy Hambledon finds a new enemy.
In his first postwar adventure, Tommy Hambledon is drawn into a hunt for a large sum of money stolen by the Nazis and hidden in Argentina. Among others things, the book is noteworthy for introducing Forgan and Campbell, a pair of model-makers who become Tommy's enthusiastic and always amusing amateur assistants. First published in England in 1947 as A Brother for Hugh, it was called by Anthony Boucher "a nice exercise in good-humored implausibility
Tommy Hambledon goes undercover to break up a gang that specializes in helping prisoners escape from jail. First published in 1948.Manning ColesRue Morgue Press07/31/2011192Binding Paperback0.70lbs9.03h x 6.08w x 0.48d9781601870582
This one's about murder and kidnapping and smuggling diamonds and turning lead into gold...
Not Negotiable MANNING COLES 1949 BOOK CLUB EDITION HARDCOVER WITH DUST JACKET
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This is the 1952 U.S. Crime Club Book Club edition the first US edition.
An English businessman finds his life in danger when he accidentally receives secret information from a defector from East Germany
"A Knife for the Juggler" by Cyril Henry Coles, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.
Tommy Hambledon, a British secret agent, investigates a case that includes stolen jewels, secret airplane plans, gangsters, and international assassins
A fatal accident that was no accident, a telephone number in a new notebook and three dried beans in a silver box, plus rumours of an international conspiracy with its headquarters in little French village, make as tricky a problem as Tommy Hambledon has ever had to work out. [flap copy]
When the new ambassador from Esmeralda is killed in London, Tommy Hambledon becomes involved in the investigation. He goes to Paris, where Letord of the Sûreté is puzzled by some unauthorized help he’s been getting. As an officer of the law, of course, Letord cannot countenance vigilante behavior, but does it hurt so much to get these jewel thieves off his books? Hambledon feels much the same, especially when the mysterious person saves his life...
"No Entry" by Cyril Henry Coles, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.