Commedia

'Commedia', No 5 in the Contango series, is the next page-turning instalment in the saga of Joe, ex-British Intelligence agent and banker. Still struggling to come to terms with his espionage life in Berlin before the Wall came down, Joe is installed at Pugh Park in Hampshire with the glamorous Perdita. He is also trying to land a big banking job in the City, in the course of the bitter takeover drama involving National and Metropolitan, the UK's biggest bank; Joe is hoping to boost his standing in the county and with Rivers Pugh, Perdita's ruthless tycoon of a brother. But the course of events does not run smoothly for the former spy. Little by little Lady Pugh reveals details of her sizzling past in Cairo. Finally Annie at British Intelligence, Joe's old Control, gets involved in the NatMet takeover drama, using Joe as a potentially pliant pawn. But Joe refuses to be manipulated by British Intelligence. He finds his own savage solutions to the succession problems at NatMet. The action builds to a wholly unexpected denouement in the Caribbean which turns, by a subtle twist of Fate, on Lady Pugh's hats.