The Blackford Oakes Mysteries Volume One: Saving the Queen, Stained Glass, and Who's On First

Blackford Oakes #1-3

by William F. Buckley Jr.

Now in one volume—the first three New York Times bestsellers starring a Cold War–era CIA superspy.   Following the rules kept Blackford Oakes alive when he was an air force pilot during World War II, and it kept him in line as a student at Yale. But as a CIA agent, he knows that sometimes rules need to be broken . . .  Saving the It’s 1952 and Oakes tackles his first assignment in London. He must uncover a spy within Buckingham Palace and protect the young queen from assassination.  Stained In this National Book Award winner, Oakes must silence a righteous nationalist stirring up trouble in East Germany, because failure to do so could push the United States and the USSR into World War III.  Who’s on The Hungarian Uprising of 1956 erupts, leaving Oakes trapped in Budapest. He soon finds himself in a race to stop the Soviets from launching a satellite—before KGB spies put an end to him.

890 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 13, 2018

About the author

William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American author and conservative commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing style was famed for its erudition, wit, and use of uncommon words.

Buckley was "arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century," according to George H. Nash, a historian of the modern American conservative movement. "For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure." Buckley's primary intellectual achievement was to fuse traditional American political conservatism with economic libertarianism and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of US Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and US President Ronald Reagan.

Buckley came on the public scene with his critical book God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics and sailing, were a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes. Buckley referred to himself "on and off" as either libertarian or conservative. He resided in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, and often signed his name as "WFB." He was a practicing Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass in Connecticut.

Reviews

[Rick Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly interesting Cia stories. Characters are for the most part well developed however Mr. Buckley's use of esoteric language makes the stories somewhat tedious for me hence the 3 star rating.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saving the Queen is a fun read, if you enjoy writers who are erudite enough that you occasionally have to look up a word and who are familiar enough with the workings of government that their plots and characters feel real. There was also a good sex scene, not something I expected from Mr. Buckley! :-)