John le Carré — The Tailor of Panama

Hodder & Stoughton 1996 Hardback, 410pp. It is contemporary Panama, reluctant host and future owner of the second largest gateway to world trade. Harry Pendel, Jewish-Irish foster child, is the charismatic proprietor and guiding genius of Pendel and Braithwaite Limitada, Tailors to Royalty, formerly of Savile Row, through whose doors passes everyone who is anyone in Central America. Andrew Osnard, mysterious and fleshly, is and Old Etonian and spy. His secret mission is two-pronged: to keep a watchful eye on the political manoeurvrings leading up to the American handover of the Panama Canal at midday on 31st December 1999; and to secure for himself the immense private fortune that has until now churlishly eluded him. And Osnard knows more about Pendel than Pendel knows himself . Minor foxing. (ISBN: 9780340684788). Good.