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Tommy Hambledon #4
Without Lawful Authority
Two unknown amateurs help Tommy Hambledon, a British Foreign Intelligence officer, track down Nazi spies in England
246 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
About the author
Manning Coles
52 books10 followersFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Manning Coles is the pseudonym of two British writers, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning (1891–1959) and Cyril Henry Coles (1899–1965), who wrote many spy thrillers from the early 40s through the early 60s. The fictional protagonist in 26 of their books was Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon, who works for the Foreign Office.
Manning and Coles were neighbors in East Meon, Hampshire. Coles worked for British Intelligence in both the World Wars. Manning worked for the War Office during World War I. Their first books were fairly realistic and with a touch of grimness; their postwar books perhaps suffered from an excess of lightheartedness and whimsy. They also wrote a number of humorous novels about modern-day ghosts, some of them involving ghostly cousins named Charles and James Latimer. These novels were published in England under the pseudonym of Francis Gaite but released in the United States under the Manning Coles byline.
Many of the original exploits were based on the real-life experiences of Coles, who lied about his age and enlisted under an assumed name in a Hampshire regiment during World War I while still a teenager. He eventually became the youngest officer in British intelligence, often working behind German lines, due to his extraordinary ability to master languages. Coles had 2 sons (Michael and Peter, who were identical twins and who are both still alive, living in the UK) and the Ghost stories were based on the tales he used to tell his young sons when he was 'back from his travels'.
Manning Coles is the pseudonym of two British writers, Adelaide Frances Oke Manning (1891–1959) and Cyril Henry Coles (1899–1965), who wrote many spy thrillers from the early 40s through the early 60s. The fictional protagonist in 26 of their books was Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon, who works for the Foreign Office.
Manning and Coles were neighbors in East Meon, Hampshire. Coles worked for British Intelligence in both the World Wars. Manning worked for the War Office during World War I. Their first books were fairly realistic and with a touch of grimness; their postwar books perhaps suffered from an excess of lightheartedness and whimsy. They also wrote a number of humorous novels about modern-day ghosts, some of them involving ghostly cousins named Charles and James Latimer. These novels were published in England under the pseudonym of Francis Gaite but released in the United States under the Manning Coles byline.
Many of the original exploits were based on the real-life experiences of Coles, who lied about his age and enlisted under an assumed name in a Hampshire regiment during World War I while still a teenager. He eventually became the youngest officer in British intelligence, often working behind German lines, due to his extraordinary ability to master languages. Coles had 2 sons (Michael and Peter, who were identical twins and who are both still alive, living in the UK) and the Ghost stories were based on the tales he used to tell his young sons when he was 'back from his travels'.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
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November 8, 2022Wildly enjoyable if a tad dated. This is set in 1938, though written mid-war. It's the story of a disgraced Army officer who was cashiered for losing/selling tank plans. He meets a burglar who is also officer class but down on his luck, and they form a dynamic duo who go after Nazi spies in the run up to war.
This is the second one of these I've read. Pattern appears to be that we get hot amateur spy action for about half the book and then Tommy Hambledon of the Foreign Office appears to start getting matters under control, and I am Here For It. This is the kind of pulp that my brain consistently rewrites as queer romance for whatever reason and honestly, I could have written this setup and am yea close to saying sod it and just fanficcing the whole thing because it would be delicious. It's on a satisfying edge between farce and brutality, with the sense of looming war. A couple of regrettable lines of casual bigotry, unfortunately, but otherwise stands up very well as pulp goes.
This is the second one of these I've read. Pattern appears to be that we get hot amateur spy action for about half the book and then Tommy Hambledon of the Foreign Office appears to start getting matters under control, and I am Here For It. This is the kind of pulp that my brain consistently rewrites as queer romance for whatever reason and honestly, I could have written this setup and am yea close to saying sod it and just fanficcing the whole thing because it would be delicious. It's on a satisfying edge between farce and brutality, with the sense of looming war. A couple of regrettable lines of casual bigotry, unfortunately, but otherwise stands up very well as pulp goes.
April 23, 2026
A KJC recommended pulpy spy series from the 1940s. Great fun, if dated in parts, and very queer-coded in the relationship between Warnford and Marden. I especially like how the authors lean into coincidences and implausibilities, without trying to make them particularly believable. This is a bonkers spy story, and they understood the assignment.
This is also full of delightful tangents that go nowhere but are deliciously surreal. To wit -- Marden and Warnford in a pub, trying desperately to eavesdrop on a conversation across the way but being thwarted by the chatty family next to them.
15/10, no notes.
This is also full of delightful tangents that go nowhere but are deliciously surreal. To wit -- Marden and Warnford in a pub, trying desperately to eavesdrop on a conversation across the way but being thwarted by the chatty family next to them.
"They are more than halfway through their drinks," said Warnford hopefully. "Of course they might order some more."
"Let's wish them away. If we both concentrate hard it might have some effect. Assemble your will power, direct it upon the fat woman, and wish hard."
The fat woman took another sip of her Guinness and said that though there was no doubt that Nellie was a nice girl, she did, nevertheless, make things trying for those who had to do with her.
The thin man who seemed likely to be her husband said, "Pink lino!" in a scornful voice and lit a short cigar.
"I wouldn't mind," said the girl in the party, "if it wasn't for the rabbit."
"It isn't the rabbit that worries me," said the soldier; "it's the poetry."
"Poetry!" said the thin man, and attended to his glass.
"The canary's the worst of the lot," said the fat woman.
"Oh, I don't mind the canary," said the girl. "It does sing rather a lot, but you needn't listen."
"What I want to know," said the soldier, "is why a harp?"
"Why indeed?" said the thin man. "Have another, Lizzie?"
"You aren't concentrating hard enough," said Marden in a low tone.
"I can't," said Warnford distractedly. "Why a harp? Does the rabbit play it?"
"The rabbit's got pink eyes," said the soldier.
"Well, the poor thing can't help that, Bill," said the girl tolerantly.
"I wonder how long the Johnsons usually stay," said Marden.
"But she could help putting a pink ribbon round its neck," said the thin man.
15/10, no notes.
April 15, 2020
This 4th book in the Tommy Hambledon series, though first published in 1943, is set in 1938 before WW2 has begun. Hambledon doesn't enter into the story for a surprisingly long time, the narrative being told primarily from the perspective of Jim Warnford. Warnford & Marden are operating "without lawful authority" and each man has his own reason for not wanting to bring the police or British Intelligence in on the action.
Once the action gets going, there is plenty of it & the final scene was almost too 'over the top'! Such fun!
Once the action gets going, there is plenty of it & the final scene was almost too 'over the top'! Such fun!
July 3, 2019
Manning Coles never disappoints
From beginning to end, this is a rattling good read. Foreign spies, fast cars, escaped lunatics--what more could one ask? The backdrop is England just before the second world war. I've read and re-read this book and enjoyed it every time. It's a classic.
From beginning to end, this is a rattling good read. Foreign spies, fast cars, escaped lunatics--what more could one ask? The backdrop is England just before the second world war. I've read and re-read this book and enjoyed it every time. It's a classic.
December 30, 2020
Although the series hero is Tommy Hambledon of the Foreign Office, the protagonist of this book (set in 1938, written in 1942) is Warnford, a former Tank Corps officer who was framed for the disappearance of some important tank design documents. At loose ends, in disgrace, he's ruminating how to get an explanation from Rawson, the officer who gave damning evidence at his court-martial, when his valet catches a gentleman-burglar. John Marden, veteran of WWI turned cheerful law-breaker, teams up with Warnford to investigate rumors of German spies in London. This is the beginning of a madcap adventure that involves car chases, secret compartments, a quick trip overseas to Ostend in Belgium, (where everyone is worried and distracted about the inevitable war) and various mad scramblings around England. Some of the characters include : a pork butcher who's also a receiver of stolen goods, two sausage-skin importers, a man with a stiff black beard, a respectable lady with many cats. Warnford and Marden are always a step ahead of Tommy Hambledon, who is becoming very curious indeed.
The final scene alone was worth an extra star : Warnford and Marden infiltrate a deluxe insane asylum suspected of being the secret headquarters of the German spies. The bona fide lunatics are released during the kerfuffle, and some hilarious dialogue and action scenes follow.
This book is more of a romp than a noir espionage novel. Warnford and Marden have more in common with the heroes of John Buchanan than Alan Furst. The clouds of WWII are definitely hanging over the story (remember that the book was written in 1942), but there's a cheerful element of overgrown schoolboys playing spy games about it. An entertaining read.
The final scene alone was worth an extra star : Warnford and Marden infiltrate a deluxe insane asylum suspected of being the secret headquarters of the German spies. The bona fide lunatics are released during the kerfuffle, and some hilarious dialogue and action scenes follow.
This book is more of a romp than a noir espionage novel. Warnford and Marden have more in common with the heroes of John Buchanan than Alan Furst. The clouds of WWII are definitely hanging over the story (remember that the book was written in 1942), but there's a cheerful element of overgrown schoolboys playing spy games about it. An entertaining read.
December 24, 2013
These books were written around and after WWII. I read this one first in the 60's. It had a "buy war bonds" back cover. I've read most of them. It is about a counter spy in Britain and his colleagues. It is dryly humorous. It you like spy/crime/mild thriller novels, you might like this. Think about the level of sex and violence in Agatha Christie.
March 31, 2011
ripping yarn complete with redemption and lunatics
April 21, 2021
Major characters:
Jim Warnford, retired and seeking excitement .. and Rawson
Ashling, Warnford's butler
Captain Rawson, Warnford's old army associate
John Marden, a burglar
Percy and Stanley Johnson, brother spies
Mrs. Ferne, the lady with the cats
Tommy Hambledon, British Secret Service
Charles Denton, Tommy's superior
Locale: England
Synopsis: It is the runup to England's entry into World War II. Jim Warnford is retired and getting a bored by staying home and working on his model railroad engines. He has a grudge against Captain Rawson, former military mate, who stole some plans and set up Warnford to take the fall. Ashling, Warnford's butler, catches a burglar, John Marden, in the act.
Rather than turn Marden in the police, Warnford strikes up a friendship with him, and has Marden teach him the arts of burglary and safecracking. Together, they seek to find Captain Rawson to even the score. They come across a couple of brothers, Percy and Stanley Johnson, who have tapped the phone line of the Foreign Service. They tip off the authorities who pick up the Johnsons, who turn out to be a couple of Nazis.
Warnford and Marden are quite successful in tracing out the Nazi spy ring, always one step ahead of Tommy Hambledon. Warnford keeps Hambledon informed of progress, and Hambledon keeps trying to catch up to find out who these two really are.
The climax comes as all parties converge on Morley Park, an insane asylum. Warnford and Marden infiltrate it, with chaos resulting as all the inmates get loose and it is difficult to tell who are the inmates, who are the good guys, and who are the bad guys.
Review: This is the longest Tommy Hambledon book, and the length is required to document all the adventures of Warnford and Marden; who take center stage away from Tommy again and again. They run into various humorous scrapes as can be expected in a Manning Coles adventure.
The highlights of the book are the events in the hotel as Warnford and Marden attempt to capture Rawson, while unknown to everyone, Tommy is locked in the closet. The adventure only becomes crazier and more chaotic as everyone winds up at Morley Park Asylum.
It is an excellent read to settle in and go back to the time of 1938-1939 as events in the story are told against the backdrop of the building Nazi occupation of Europe.
Jim Warnford, retired and seeking excitement .. and Rawson
Ashling, Warnford's butler
Captain Rawson, Warnford's old army associate
John Marden, a burglar
Percy and Stanley Johnson, brother spies
Mrs. Ferne, the lady with the cats
Tommy Hambledon, British Secret Service
Charles Denton, Tommy's superior
Locale: England
Synopsis: It is the runup to England's entry into World War II. Jim Warnford is retired and getting a bored by staying home and working on his model railroad engines. He has a grudge against Captain Rawson, former military mate, who stole some plans and set up Warnford to take the fall. Ashling, Warnford's butler, catches a burglar, John Marden, in the act.
Rather than turn Marden in the police, Warnford strikes up a friendship with him, and has Marden teach him the arts of burglary and safecracking. Together, they seek to find Captain Rawson to even the score. They come across a couple of brothers, Percy and Stanley Johnson, who have tapped the phone line of the Foreign Service. They tip off the authorities who pick up the Johnsons, who turn out to be a couple of Nazis.
Warnford and Marden are quite successful in tracing out the Nazi spy ring, always one step ahead of Tommy Hambledon. Warnford keeps Hambledon informed of progress, and Hambledon keeps trying to catch up to find out who these two really are.
The climax comes as all parties converge on Morley Park, an insane asylum. Warnford and Marden infiltrate it, with chaos resulting as all the inmates get loose and it is difficult to tell who are the inmates, who are the good guys, and who are the bad guys.
Review: This is the longest Tommy Hambledon book, and the length is required to document all the adventures of Warnford and Marden; who take center stage away from Tommy again and again. They run into various humorous scrapes as can be expected in a Manning Coles adventure.
The highlights of the book are the events in the hotel as Warnford and Marden attempt to capture Rawson, while unknown to everyone, Tommy is locked in the closet. The adventure only becomes crazier and more chaotic as everyone winds up at Morley Park Asylum.
It is an excellent read to settle in and go back to the time of 1938-1939 as events in the story are told against the backdrop of the building Nazi occupation of Europe.
June 6, 2021
Having just finished a written-by-rote thriller by an NYT bestseller (I won't name and shame), I turned to something undemanding. Having enjoyed Green Hazard by this author, I dipped into this thriller set just before the out break of WWII. Although it is in the Tommy Hambledon series, the Foreign Office spy hardly gets a look-in because amateur sleuths who'd prefer to keep a low profile, accidentally stumble on foreign spies, whose nationality one can easily guess. Hambledon amusedly lets the amateurs do all the hard work.
This story, much like Green Hazard is an undemanding read. It feels authentic for the period simply because that was when it was written, and there is none of the heavily researched detail added to paint a picture for readers of future decades. I suppose Manning Coles was writing for 'his' contemporaries, so didn't feel the need to paint a backdrop; his readers would simply use their imagination.
There is nothing James Bond-like. The male characters are either gentlemen or jovial working class salts of the earth. The plot is strewn with coincidences and I could see the dénouement a mile off. But there is very little propaganda, no proselytising, and the Nazis (there, I've given away the plot!) are thinly inked in characters who barely put in an appearance.
So, set against modern, all too clever novels, this reads as a thoroughly naive tale, but I loved it. Satisfying bedtime reading.
This story, much like Green Hazard is an undemanding read. It feels authentic for the period simply because that was when it was written, and there is none of the heavily researched detail added to paint a picture for readers of future decades. I suppose Manning Coles was writing for 'his' contemporaries, so didn't feel the need to paint a backdrop; his readers would simply use their imagination.
There is nothing James Bond-like. The male characters are either gentlemen or jovial working class salts of the earth. The plot is strewn with coincidences and I could see the dénouement a mile off. But there is very little propaganda, no proselytising, and the Nazis (there, I've given away the plot!) are thinly inked in characters who barely put in an appearance.
So, set against modern, all too clever novels, this reads as a thoroughly naive tale, but I loved it. Satisfying bedtime reading.
November 26, 2021
In the run-up to the 2nd World War, Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon of the Foreign Office, recently back in London after a long undercover assignment in the Third Reich, stumbles on the trail of a Nazi spy ring. With the aid of a cashiered young tank officer and a safecracker, Tommy, Reck, & Charles Denton put a stop to them all. Doubleday Crime Club, 1943.
February 23, 2021
One of my favorite Manning Coles books, entertaining and well-written
April 19, 2025
Good read. Swell story
Another good Hambledon tale. This one more carefully proofread and set. Still reads well 80 years after it was written.
Another good Hambledon tale. This one more carefully proofread and set. Still reads well 80 years after it was written.
April 8, 2015
My mother got me hooked on these Tommy Hambledon adventures that encompass the two World Wars and enter the Cold War era. Why don't people still read them? They're easily as good as John Le Carre; one of the two pseudonymous authors was (like Le Carre) a member of the British espionage service. (Cyril Henry Coles' writing partner was mystery novelist Adelaide Frances Oke Manning, so he knew the background and the possibilities, and she knew the literary form.)
These are never formula stories, though. Each has a unique hook, and in this story it's that the first chapter follows a likable fellow, framed for something he didn't do, who decides that maybe burglary is the only job he's qualified for now. . . .
Five stars, because all of the Manning Coles are books I enjoy so much that I can open them at random and enjoy a chapter or two with my lunch, any day.
These are never formula stories, though. Each has a unique hook, and in this story it's that the first chapter follows a likable fellow, framed for something he didn't do, who decides that maybe burglary is the only job he's qualified for now. . . .
Five stars, because all of the Manning Coles are books I enjoy so much that I can open them at random and enjoy a chapter or two with my lunch, any day.
February 7, 2009
Warnford has been court-martialled, since the plans for a new tank were in his custody when they were lost. When he crosses paths with Marsden, a burglar but a gentleman, they decide to see if they can help find subversive characters in pre-war London. Soon they learn of a secret service officer named Thomas Hambledon, and start sending him messages of their findings. Tommy wants to find out who they are, though he himself was once in a similar position. Warnford knows it's too much to hope to clear his name, but with Hambledon on his side, almost anything is possible.
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August 14, 2016This was the first book I ever read by Manning Coles--really the writing team of Cyril Manning and Adelaide Coles (or possibly the other way round). It's clever and charming, with pathos and humor and with the great Tommy Hambleton--though not enough of him because I can never get enough of him. Set just as WWII begins in England, it's a story of a disgraced captain in the army and the burglar he catches robbing him; they form an unlikely alliance and set out to clear the captain's name and end up driving the British Secret Service mad in the process. And did I mention Tommy Hambledon?
June 28, 2025
2025 bk 75. The fourth of the Tommy Hambledon mystery/espionage thrillers. Tommy finds himself in a fix. Confused with another man - our intrepid British Intelligence officer is whisked back into Germany from an investigation in Switzerland. The Germany now at war with Great Britain (in the days after Dunkirk) is not a safe place for the former Chief of German Police. Luckily, an explosion has left his with a limp and wearing a beard. Some of his contacts still exist so he can maybe still do some good for the British while he is in Germany.....
February 25, 2015
Charming old-fashioned thriller set in 1938 England and featuring a pair of surprisingly effective spy catchers: Warnford and Marden. Published in 1943; fourth in the Tommy Hambledon series. Some delightful laugh-out-loud moments that beg to be shared.
October 30, 2014
The goodread title should have (Tommy Hambledon #4) added in a series of 26 british spy novels. Amazingly copyrighted in 1943 and set in 1938.
May 12, 2015
great story line and characters.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews