Between World War II and the early 1990’s, the conflict/rivalry between the US and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies was arguably the most influential political reality the world faced. The Cold War, as that conflict is called, had far too many effects for me to mention here. Science, the development of technology, culture, education, literature, the arts and many other areas were deeply affected by the Cold War. So it makes sense and is only logical that the Cold War would play a major role in crime fiction, and it has. There isn’t space in this one post for me to mention all of the novels that have the Cold War as their theme, so I’ll touch on just a few.
Agatha Christie’s post-World War II novels mention Communism and Communists more than once. For instance in Hickory Dickory Dock (AKA Hickory Dickory Death), Hercule Poirot is asked by his ultra-efficient secretary Miss Lemon to help her sister Mrs. Hubbard get to the bottom of a series of odd thefts at the student hostel she manages. Poirot agrees and visits the hostel one evening. When one of the residents Celia Austin confesses to some of the thefts everyone thinks the matter is settled. But then, two days later, Celia Austin dies of poisoning in what looks like a suicide. It’s soon proven though that she was murdered, so Poirot works with Inspector Sharpe to find out who killed the victim and why. It turns out that Celia Austin knew too much about another resident’s secrets; that’s why she was murdered. In the process of finding out which resident is the killer, Poirot and Sharpe uncover the fact that someone is a member of the Communist Party. There are other references too to the Cold War. For instance, one of the residents Sally Finch is an American who’s had a creepy feeling for a while that something was very wrong at the hostel. Several people put down her feelings to anti-Communism although that’s not true. This novel weaves the sentiment of the times throughout the plot although it’s not directly relevant to the mystery.
Walter Mosley’s A Red Death was written in 1991, but takes place in the early 1950’s and captures the Cold War sentiment of that time. Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins is a former employee of a Los Angeles-area aircraft company who’s been laid off. He’s found a new career “doing favours for friends” and as a result of one of those favours he’s earned quite a lot of money on which he hasn’t paid taxes. One day he gets a letter from an Internal Revenue Service agent threatening him with jail if he doesn’t pay the taxes he owes, something that Rawlins cannot afford to do. He’s resigned to doing time in prison when he gets an unexpected way out. FBI Agent Darryl Craxton tells Rawlins that the FBI is investigating former Polish Resistance fighter Chaim Wenzler as a possible Communist. If Rawlins will help the FBI bring Wenzler down, Craxton will work with Lawrence to make Rawlins’ tax problems go away. Seeing no other option, Rawlins agrees. Wenzler is an active volunteer for the First African Baptist Church, so Rawlins gets involved as a co-volunteer to get close to Wenzler. The better he gets to know Wenzler, though, the more Rawlins likes him. He finds what he has to do increasingly distasteful, but Craxton begins to pressure him for information and Rawlins knows the consequences if he doesn’t co-operate. Then, two other members of the church community are murdered. And an earlier death that looked like suicide turns out also to be a murder. Now Rawlins, who was at both scenes, is suspected of murder and has to clear his name as well as find out the truth about Wenzler.
There are also of course many thrillers by authors such as John le Carré that focus on Cold War-era government plots, spies and spying. Those novels have made many contributions to the thriller genre.
In 1993, the former Soviet Union dissolved. But that didn’t end the misunderstanding and distrust between the former enemies. It’s been extremely interesting to see how the crime fiction that’s been written since that time depicts interactions between former Soviet citizens and citizens of Western countries who were allied with the US during the Cold War.
For instance, in Margaret Truman’s Murder in the House, Congressman Paul Latham is set to become the next US Secretary of State. On the night before his confirmation hearings, though, he’s shot. The first explanation for his murder is suicide but that isn’t accepted for long. It then comes out that his former assistant Marge Edwards was possibly going to accuse him of sexual misconduct. That lurid story is blazed across all the newspapers, but then, Edwards disappears. Now, Georgetown School of Law professor Mackensie “Mac” Smith gets involved when a former student who’s now in the CIA contacts him to tell him that there was much more going on in Latham’s life than it seemed on the surface. Smith was a friend of Latham’s and is sure that he wasn’t guilty of sexual misconduct. He’s even surer that Latham wouldn’t have committed suicide. As it turns out, Latham was connected to a powerful US businessman who’s been trying to make another fortune in the new economy of post-Soviet Russia. He’s made several contacts there and it’s quite possible that Latham’s connection with these newly established business ties could be behind his death. It’s very interesting to see how Truman treats the Russian businessmen and their associates who figure in this novel. She (Truman) was of course the daughter of US President Harry Truman whose administration was the first of the Cold War.
Robin Cook’s Vector features a look at post-Cold War US/Russian feelings. Yuri Davydov is an émigré to New York City. In the Soviet Union, he was a technician in the biological weapons program Biopreparat so he’s got well-honed technical and science skills. But in the US, Yuri Davydov has only been able to find work as a taxi driver. He’s miserable and is convinced that he’s been cheated by the illusion of the “American dream.” He finds sympathetic ears in the persons of a group of skinheads who blame the government (among other “villains”) for all of their misfortune. When Davydov’s new friends learn of his biological warfare knowledge, they know they’ve found a valuable ally and Davydov ends up getting involved in a plot to unleash the anthrax bacteria. New York City medical examiners Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery begin to suspect terrorism when a carpet dealer dies of what turns out to be anthrax poisoning. Bit by bit the two medical examiners put the pieces of the puzzle together and try desperately to catch the conspirators before they unleash the poison.
And then there’s Ian Rankin’s Exit Music, in which Edinburgh Inspector John Rebus and his partner Siobhan Clarke investigate the murder of poet Alexander Todorov, whose body is found in a disreputable neighbourhood. At first it looks as though he was the victim of a mugging gone wrong, but soon enough it turns out that the murder was more deliberate than that. Before his death, Todorov was at a dinner with members of a group of wealthy Russian businessman who’ve made new homes and fortunes in Edinburgh. They’re not fans of Todorov’s controversial poetry and in fact one of them actually said he wished Todorov was dead. Rebus finds that out and discovers that those businessmen may be involved with his nemesis Edinburgh crime boss Morris Gerald “Big Ger” Cafferty; that’s all he needs to assume that somehow Todorov’s killing was ordered. That assumption leads Rebus in the wrong direction, as Todorov’s murder was both more complicated and simpler than that.
In the roughly twenty years since the end of the Cold War, it’s been very interesting to see how crime fiction has come to depict relations between the former enemies. That relationship is complicated and fascinating and I’ll be really interested to see how the crime fiction of the coming decades portrays Russians and Americans and their interactions.
On Another Note…
The ‘photo is of an egg painted in the Russian tradition. It was given to me by a friend and colleague Peter Serdyukov, whom I’m honoured to know. He and I have co-authored a book and co-written a paper based on a presentation we did. We grew up on opposite sides of the “Iron Curtain,” but fortunately for me, Peter and his family moved to the US several years ago. He’s an expert in language teaching methodology, models of education and online teaching and I am a better person and a better professional because of my friendship with him.
Спасибо, Питер
*NOTE: The title of this post is a line from Billy Joel’s Leningrad.
An intriguing topic Margot. Your diverse take on books reminds me that we can tell a lot about our society by looking at what was written during a certain period or about a certain period. While some stories may take lliberties with the truth, it still gives us a good snapshot of what people thought and felt (for the most part) at that time.
Cute egg. Your friend sounds very interesting.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Mason – Thanks for the kind words
. And you really are quite right; we can tell a lot about society and the way people think/thought at the time of a given book. Even if a story asks for some suspension of disbelief, it still does give a picture of people’s mindsets.
And you’re quite right; Peter is a really interesting and brilliant person.
I really love the look of that egg, how delicately painted.
I have a colleciton of John le Carre books on my Kindle and I’m trying to read them. However, I’m having difficulty with them. Some of them are a bit dry. However, I’m trying.
Clarissa – Isn’t that egg beautiful? I love having it. I hope you’ll find one of the le Carré novels to your liking. If you haven’t tried The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, I know I liked that one very much. But that may be just me…
This post is bringing up memories of my first-grade class during the height of the Cold War. In those days, there were air raid drills. We either had to climb under the desks or stand out in the hall. Somehow, my six-year-old self was a precursor to my adult “ban the bomb” self, when I told the other students that “this won’t do any good; if we’re under the desks or out in the halls, and a bomb falls, radiation will still get us.” I’m not sure how I know this at six, must have heard it at home. But I was very sure of this.
This isn’t a topic I like to read in my crime fiction. Somehow, I like calmer themes than possible world annihilation. Just a few local murders and dysfunctional families and town/city residents will do, even with countrywide chases.
Kathy – It is strange to think about isn’t it that people could have thought themselves safe by “ducking and covering.” It doesn’t make much sense even given what experts knew at the time of the Cold War. And I don’t blame you even a little for preferring to read about something like local murders (I like that term) to world annihilation. It’s a scary thought.
Margot: A few years ago I read a non-fiction book by Amy Knight called How the Cold War Began. It described how the defection of Russian cipher clerk, Igor Gouzenko, started the process of exposing Russian spying in North America. Contrary to the brutal efficiency of intelligence services in many novels Gouzenko had trouble finding a Canadian authority willing to listen to him. He hid his first night in a friend’s apartment while Russian security searched for him in Ottawa. The next day he managed to locate Canadian police prepared to hear him. Later he lived under the name of Krysac (rat).
Bill – Thanks for telling a little of the story of Giuzenko’s defection. This is a story that I didn’t know very much about and should learn. I’m going to have to try to find Amy Knight’s book. Really fascinating stuff for which thanks.
I have a hard time reading these type novels, but the themes in movies. Robin Cook is awesome.
………dhole
Donna – Isn’t it interesting how a theme can work well in a movie, but not so well in a novel. I’ve had that happen to me, too. And I enjoyed the early Robin Cook novels quite a lot.
I have always found it fascinating that we humans were so hungry for an enemy that we created a new kind of war (which presumed the other kind was ‘hot’) and associated language and behaviours. With this theme in books I find myself being a bit picky – some I like and some not so much if I feel they are playing to stereotypes too much. As a teenager I read all the Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy books which had this theme but I can’t be bothered with them now (I picked one up in desperation for something to read in a hotel a couple of years ago and couldn’t get on with it at all)
Bernadette – I wonder about that capacity of humans myself. It is amazing that we always seem to have to create a “them.” I’m glad you mentioned both Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy; they’re both excellent examples of Cold War thriller writers. I don’t blame you for being picky about the kinds of Cold War-themed books you enjoy. There are some I’ve liked very, very much but others not at all. As you say it depends on how the theme’s worked in and how the characters develop. If there’s going to be a Cold War theme in a novel I prefer to see how it affects individuals. That’s what I liked about Walter Mosley’s A Red Death. We see how a few people get caught by the US anti-Communist hysteria and what happens to them.
I continue to read Cold War novels because I find the subject rather fascinating even if the stories are terribly one-sided and unfair to the communist bloc. I have often searched for good translations of Cold War novels from the Soviet Union but so far I haven’t had much luck. It would be interesting to know the Soviet perspective on an era that everyone, including writers, publishers, marketers and readers, took for granted. There is a second viewpoint out there, only we don’t know what it is. I remember, some two decades ago, I read a book called THE RED GODS by Donald Lindquist about a secret plot within the Soviet Union to launch a surprise nuclear attack against America (or something to that effect). Fortunately, there are sane men also in the Kremlin and the politburo who prevent the impending catastrophe. I wonder how that story would have looked from a Soviet point of view. WW2 and the Cold War were probably the two most influential themes in modern literature.
Prashant – The Cold War certainly has had a powerful, powerful effect on modern literature. And it’s interesting that you would mention wishing for a good translation of a novel from the Soviet perspective of that era. I’d like to read one too. In a complicated conflict like the Cold War there are always many different aspects and angles to the story and I’ll bet there is a lot the neither “side” has heard about the “other side’s” perspective. And The Red Gods sounds like an interesting novel and one I should look out for.
It is funny to hark back to what was being published in the 1950s to 1980s and how many books had a cold war theme to them, usually the evil Soviets with their super-technologies, etc, which all fell very flat after the wall & then Soviet Union fell and the weapons inspectors showed what the Russians actually had. Apart from John LeCarre, whom you mention, I have forgotten many of these books now, probably as they tended to be rather boilerplate. The Quiller Memorandum et al was one such series, and I think Richard Condon wrote many a “paranoia cold war inspired” book eg The Manchurian Candidate which you’ve discussed before. Robert Ludlum is probably another. As pointed out, now spy/thriller authors have simply substituted other evil empires for their boilerplate plots – North Korea, Al Queda et al, or the “acceptable enemy du jour” – sadly attitudes are hard to change!
I really like your picture and dedication – the dedication is exactly my experience of many years as a science editor – science knows no boundaries and we have had many fruitful collaborations with individuals in “no go” countries over the years.
Maxine – Thank you
. You make such a good point, too. Science knows no boundaries. There are other fields like that, too. I think as I’ve worked with colleagues all over the world I’ve found that we can learn so much from that kind of collaboration – including with colleagues from “no go” countries. And what we learn from good research can have real societal benefits.
You make a very good point too that as times have changed, the “enemy” in thrillers has changed, too. But the “ingredients” for a boilerplate thriller haven’t. It is sad as you say that attitudes don’t always change, so it’s not hard to sell thrillers with “today’s enemy” as the “bad guy.” Perhaps that one reason I prefer crime fiction that focuses on character development, where one gets to know the people in the story as just that – people. They often have more depth and there are fewer stereotypes.
Yes to characters with more depth and development, fewer stereotypes. Three cheers for character development, a murder mystery, no bombs, no espionage, no world intrigues,
Kathy – Well-put
Appart from John Le Carre who Maxine mentions I also like the books of Len Deighton featuring Bernard Samson (starting with Berlin Game). They’re very unfashionable now but quite a good read and a slightly different take on the world of London Cold War spying.
Sarah – Thanks for mentioning Deighton’s books. I confess I haven’t read as much of his work as I should, just to get that perspective you mention. Unfashionable doesn’t always mean not worth reading
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It’s interesting, because I remember when relations (briefly) improved between the U.S. and Soviet Union and I wondered if that meant there wouldn’t be any more good spy novels. I guess that was a silly concern.
Pat – LOL! Yes, I think there’ll always be spy novels and thrillers as long as there’s a good market for them.