I was down in Fowey for October half-term so took the opportunity to Read Readymoney Cove by Mark Butterworth, named after Fowey’s beach.

It is a spy thriller set after the Second World War and revolves around the lives of Adam Devon, reconnaissance pilot based in Cornwall on the hunt for Russian submarines, his wife Hannah, Mossad secret agent hunting down Nazis, and Henry Fitzjohn, Conservative Cabinet Defence Minister planning a war against Russia.

Henry is drawn into a world of high class prostitutes in London at the very beginning of the 1960s, a story line clearly based on the Profumo affair, but in this case he is lured down to Readymoney where he takes a morning swim next to the house of a young woman he is falling in love with despite her hostess lifestyle. Unfortunately, she is also sleeping with a Russian spy, and that’s how Henry finds himself fighting for his life in Readymoney Cove. Luckily, Adam’s wife Hannah is on hand.

This is a fun book for anyone who likes intrigue and it conjures up well the beautiful setting of Fowey.