Government Mysteries

Excerpt: "The United States was desperate to reassert its global power after the embarrassment of Sputnik. In fact, the Russians were showing up the United States in all sorts of ways. First human-made satellite, the first man in space, first man in orbit, the first woman in space, first dog in space. The list goes on. If the United States tried something as daring as going to the Moon and failed, the repercussions would be enormous."

Holmes is charged by the permanent special adviser to the prime minister, his brother Mycroft, to plot a new course for Great Britain following the country's vote in a plebiscite to secede from the Entente Cordiale. Holmes demonstrates that politics truly is an art and that all things are possible as he travels to Washington, Moscow, and Paris meeting statesmen who bear no resemblance at all to the present-day holders of the equivalent posts.