Spies And Secret Agents

We become used to reading about the activities of fictional spies and secret agents whether or not they bear any resemblance to the real thing.

In Poul Anderson's The Game Of Empire, Targovi suspects that Admiral Magnusson plans to rebel so he returns to Daedalus to gather more intelligence, using Axor and Diana as cover. Dominic Flandry suspects that the pretender, Magnusson, might be a Merseian sleeper agent so he arranges a parley under truce that will enable him to ask some leading questions.

In Ian Fleming's last three novels, James Bond poses first as Sir Hilary Bray in order to confirm that the Comte de Bleuville is Ernst Stavro Blofeld, then as a deaf and dumb Japanese miner in order to assassinate Blofeld, then as security consultant Mark Hazard in order to assassinate Francisco Scaramanga.

I draw these parallels simply because I am simultaneously rereading The Game Of Empire and The Man With The Golden Gun. Magnusson interns Flandry. Scaramanga nearly finishes Bond. These are the last works about Flandry and Bond by their respective creators.