british spies of middle age

I got caught up on some reading over the weekend. I finished a book of Michael Gilbert’s short stories, Game Without Rules, the first story collection I’ve read that was positively blurbed by both Rex Stout and Eudora Welty. It details the adventures of two 50ish British spies, Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens who are neighbors in the country. Gilbert has a very dry sense of humor. When Mr. Calder is informed of the death of a disreputable man who attempted to tail him, he says “My acquaintance with him was limited to poking him with my umbrella. I cannot regard him as a deep loss.”