TY - BOOK AU - Maugham,W.Somerset TI - Ashenden SN - 0099289709 AV - PR6025.A86 A82 2000 U1 - 823/.912 21 PY - 2000/// CY - London PB - Vintage KW - Soviet Union KW - History KW - Revolution, 1917-1921 KW - Fiction KW - Spy stories, English KW - Spy fiction KW - lcgft N1 - R. -- A domiciliary visit -- Miss King -- The hairless Mexican -- The dark woman -- The Greek -- A trip to Paris -- Giulia Lazzari -- Gustav -- The traitor -- Behind the scenes -- His Excellency -- The flip of a coin -- A chance acquaintance -- Love and Russian literature -- Mr. Harrington's washing N2 - A celebrated writer by the time the war broke out in 1914, Maugham was dispatched by the Secret Service to Lucerne under the guise of completing a play, an assignment whose danger and drama appealed both to his sense of romance and of the ridiculous. The stories collected here are rooted in Maugham's own experiences as an agent, reflecting the ruthlessness and brutality of espionage, its intrigue and treachery, as well as its absurdity ER -