[Mike Hammer]

I don't know if this belongs in International Spies or not, but it's difficult to fit it in anywhere else, so I'll put it here.

The Man from St. Petersburg is Feliks. He is an anarchist, and in the months immediately prior to the First World War, the group he belongs to gets word that a Russian prince is travelling to England to conclude a treaty making England and Russia allies, and ensuring that Russia will enter any future war on the side of the English, costing thousands of Russian peasants their lives. This must be stopped, and Feliks is sent to England to assassinate the prince. Word gets out that the prince's life is in danger, and it becomes a race against time to protect the prince and sign the treaty before the assassin can get to him. Now that I think of it, it essentially follows the format of Frederick Forsyth's The Day of the Jackal (somebody ought to review that; maybe I'll get to it later). It's not as compelling, but it's a good book nonetheless. There is a neat little twist at the end that threatens to destroy the English-Russian alliance, but some clever thinking by young MP Winston Churchill saves the day. It's definitely a good book, and it's not very often that you get to read a WWI-era thriller.