The Devil's Cocktail

Wallace of the Secret Service #2

by Alexander Wilson

BOOK 2 in the Wallace of the Secret Service series. Sir Leonard is not a man to desire fame or notoriety. His chronicler has been forced to fall back on office records and information supplied by various members of the secret service, to tell of the struggles of Wallace and his intelligence officers and their battles against the Soviet Union, terrorism and subversion in the British Empire, Nazi Germany and the tentacles of global organised crime.

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

Alexander Wilson was an English writer, spy and MI6 officer.

Under his own name and the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Spencer, Gregory Wilson, and Michael Chesney, he penned 24 novels between 1928 and 1940. He wrote a further four unpublished novels and his last spy short story was published in a Faber & Faber collection My Best Spy Story in 1955.

Wilson was a bigamist; only after his death was it discovered that he had four wives, six sons, and one daughter. The 2018 miniseries Mrs Wilson tells the story from the point of view of his third wife, Alison (portrayed by Alexander and Alison's granddaughter: Ruth Wilson).

Librarian note: There are several authors with the name Alexander Wilson

Reviews

[Linda Amos · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy read, great fun.
More spies and derring do in India. The Russians are trying to foment a plot. The Chinese and a few other countries are in it with them. However, they reckon without the British and American Secret Services.

[MAUREEN · Rating 1 out of 5]

Outdated book

Probably one of the worst books I have read in a long time poor plot outdated politically incorrect complete waste of time

[Iseult MacKinnon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was hilarious. This was my first time reading a book written in the 20s. If a woke liberal read this I think their head would explode.

[Cecilia Haskins · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyable read, obviously dated and the source of many subsequent books. helpful to have amazon kindle support.

[Julian · Rating 2 out of 5]

cousins is an icon but really this whole thing is just painfully racist.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was the back story of the author that drew me to this novel. To a twenty-first century reader, it will certainly jar. if one can read it as being of its time, it's ok.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Atmospheric of India in the 1920s, The Devil's Cocktail just slogged on and on. I can overlook offensive bits about Indians, women, everyone but the brave British secret service members, but the creeping plot made me leave this far too long on my nightstand. Glad it's over.

[GrabAsia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun to read this book on Colonial India. The description of British India was great, as was the romantic aspects between 2 of the protagonists. However the plot was lacking a punch.