Joe Wilderness Series by John Lawton

Joe Wilderness is a World War II orphan, a condition that he thinks excuses him from common morality. Cat burglar, card sharp, and Cockney wide boy, the last thing he wants is to get drafted. But in 1946 he finds himself in the Royal Air Force, facing a stretch in military prison . . . when along comes Lt Colonel Burne-Jones to tell him MI6 has better use for his talents... moreJoe Wilderness is a World War II orphan, a condition that he thinks excuses him from common morality. Cat burglar, card sharp, and Cockney wide boy, the last thing he wants is to get drafted. But in 1946 he finds himself in the Royal Air Force, facing a stretch in military prison . . . when along comes Lt Colonel Burne-Jones to tell him MI6 has better use for his talents.Posted to occupied Berlin, interrogating ex-Nazis, and burgling the odd apartment for MI6, Wilderness finds himself with time on his hands and the devil making work. He falls in with Frank, a US Army captain, with Eddie, a British artilleryman and with Yuri, a major in the NKVD and together they lift the black market scam to a new level. Coffee never tasted so sweet. And he falls for Nell Breakheart, a German girl who has witnessed the worst that Germany could do and is driven by all the scruples that Wilderness lacks.Fifteen years later, June 1963. Wilderness is free-lance and down on his luck. A gumshoe scraping by on divorce cases. Frank is a big shot on Madison Avenue, cooking up one last Berlin scam . . . for which he needs Wilderness once more. Only now they're not smuggling coffee, they're smuggling people. And Nell? Nell is on the staff of West Berlin's mayor Willy Brandt, planning for the state visit of the most powerful man in the world: "Ich bin ein Berliner!"Then We Take Berlin is a gripping, meticulously researched and richly detailed historical thriller – a moving story of espionage and war, and people caught up in the most tumultuous events of the twenty-first century. less

Moscow Blues begins in Washington, D.C., in the fragile postwar period where the Red Scare is growing noisier in certain circles every day. Polylingual Charlotte is a British expatriate who has recently settled in the nation's capital with her second husband who looks like Clark Gable, but her enviable dinner parties and soirees aren't the only things she is making plans for... moreMoscow Blues begins in Washington, D.C., in the fragile postwar period where the Red Scare is growing noisier in certain circles every day. Polylingual Charlotte is a British expatriate who has recently settled in the nation's capital with her second husband who looks like Clark Gable, but her enviable dinner parties and soirees aren't the only things she is making plans for. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard's Inspector Troy must say goodbye to his friend and colleague Charlie Leigh-Hunt, who has been posted to Washington as a replacement for Guy Burgess, last seen disappearing around the corner and into the ether by Troy. While the purpose of his posting in the States is initially vague, Charlie is soon shocked to cross paths once again with Charlotte, who has a packed pocketbook full of secrets she is eager to share with him.Featuring a dynamic female protagonist and crackling dialogue, Moscow Blues is a gripping thriller featuring new characters as well as old standbys, including Lawton's beloved Joe Wilderness. less