War Game

Dr David Audley & Colonel Jack Butler #7

by Anthony Price

In the rural peace of modern England a war game recreates the slaughter of the Civil War. But when the battle ends, a real corpse is left it the Swine Brook; and an aristocratic but impoverished revolutionary claims to have found a cache of 'Cromwell's Gold'.

When David Audley is called in, seventeenth-century secrets and the deadly game of modern espionage clash in a brilliantly intricate thriller of bluff and counter-bluff.

Genres: Fiction, Espionage, Mystery

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Born in Hertfordshire in 1928, Price was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and Oxford. His long career in journalism culminated in the Editorship of the Oxford Times. His literary thrillers earned comparisons to the best of Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway, and Robert Goddard.

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The history about Cromwell is fine. But for readers familiar with these Cold War books, the plot twist is pretty obvious from the beginning so it's annoying how long it takes our genius Audley to clue in.

[Georgie-who-is-Sarah-Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm an Anthony Price fan - each book manages to offer a singular sense of place and problem, which takes some doing given that he wrote 19. Terrific characterisation, too, and a first-class historical background into the bargain - what's not to like?

War Game is not Great Price, but it's certainly very good Price. The historical mystery to be solved (the whereabouts of C17th Civil War gold) echoes and is bound up with the modern question of how legally to stop an unpleasant British communist sympathiser from waging war on the Establishment. David Audley is the central character - intelligent, well-informed, devious and maverick - and it's Price's skill to flatter his readers by allowing us to decode situations just a fraction before Audley himself gets there.

[Read It · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another step in my Anthony Price reading challenge, hard to understand why these books are relatively unknown.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay - I love mystery/ detective / spy stories that are well written with a tight and twisty plot that the author continues along with a more and more familiar cast of characters a la Agatha Christie, Dorothy Parker, Deborah Crombie, etc. Anthony Price’s books with David Audley, and his coworkers from a vague branch of British Intelligence, delivers all this in spades. These were perfect for the flight to O’ahu and the 4 days stuck in my room staring at cases of water & canned meat (spam, anybody?) waiting for the hurricane to slowly disintegrate 100 miles to the south.

[Jeff Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most enjoyable David Audley book I've re-read so far. Left wing agitator Charlie Ratcliffe (a sort 1970s Tommy Robinson) finds Cromwell's Gold and the government wants Audley to find a reason to stop him getting it. The title War Game refers to English Civil War reenactors which much of the background of the book is played out. Price brings back Paul Mitchell (Other Paths to Glory) and Frances Fitzgibbon (Our Man in Camelot) with the heaving bosum. It's very clever plot which unravels and keeps the reader engaged until the last page. Top class stuff.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked that Audrey was dealing with being used by higher ups to figure out the situation when he’s usually the one using others. Quick read, but not in a bad way.

[James Cary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this. It was a little confusing at times, and in some ways it feels rather dated, but frankly, anything that involves the English Civil War is okay by me.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more interesting of the series. I enjoyed it particularly since I majored in English History in college. Price did a good job of blending fact with fiction.

[Beth Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is classic Anthony Price and I really enjoyed it. The only problem was that it followed on too closely after Our Man in Camelot and has essentially the same plot twist.

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthony Price is so much fun. His books make espionage so... English. If it's not tea and crumpets, sitting in a floral-patterned armchair, then it's reenacting the English Civil War, Roundheads and Cavaliers, whilst trying to discover how a hoard of gold has turned up in the hands of a rather naughty boy who is very Left-wing.
And informative! I learnt so much about the Civil war and re-enactors.
Anthony Price is so easy to read, so much fun.
Why the hell are they out of print?

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up in one of those used book shops we haunt when on the road, looking for the odd, unusual, and interesting book – preferably, but not necessarily, cheap. The title attracted me first because war games and even war gamers (especially war game designers) are an interest of mine (being a hobbyist and professional war gamer, so to speak). But it only took a quick glance to see that the author, Anthony Price, had written a two-fer for me, because in this case the subject war game was actually the reenactment of one or more English Civil War battles, and here I am finishing up my first decade as a reenactor (though of the American Civil War, not the English).
So here the author was offering me a murder mystery set in the world of reenacting – as the murder itself was set in a reenactment itself. Then he throws in a secret gold treasure and Cold War era radical politics and scheming, and it seems I have found a must read for myself. I would highly recommend this to anyone who appreciates good English Cold War (and English Civil War) mysteries and especially to any reenactors out there, who should get a special kick out of this account of a reenactment gone bad!

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The commies are coming, with gold!

Everyone dresses up as cavaliers and Roundheads to infiltrate the re-enactment prone political factions, in whose midst a murder was committed.

Like all of these books, the premise is deeply historical, fun and informative. When the lid is lifted it is nothing to do with history at all, but with current (at the time obviously) political events and secret service plotting. Lots of fun.