The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

A few years ago, I attempted to read novels dealing with suspense, politics, and other important contemporary matters. I assumed that because the authors were experts in a certain field, their fiction stories about that field must be awesome. Unfortunately, I discovered their characters and their style of writing to be flat, devoid of depth, and amateurish at best. They were experts in national security, but they knew nothing about a writer’s tools.

Recently, I discovered Helen MacInnes in some old boxes from an auction. What would a former librarian and housewife know about writing suspenseful spy novels? According to MacInnes:

There is nothing mysterious or improbable about this creation of imaginary people: we all have, somewhere deep inside us, a reservoir of our unconscious observations; ever since we started being interested in people, in listening to their words and wondering not only about what they said but about why they said it…
The idea that a novelist must actually be writing from experience, and that he must experience everything in order to write, is a misconception. [A novelist] does not have to experience murder or treason or political violence before he can realize what these things mean.

Helen MacInnes (1907-1985) was a former librarian and a best-selling author of suspense and spy novels from the 1940s until her death. She covered many themes such as politics, terrorism, the role of women, and many other topics. I know she graduated from the University of Glasgow and immigrated with her husband to our country in 1937. She might have been a housewife who needed a hobby, and her hobby eventually led to her tremendous success. She began her novel writing shortly after settling here.

Above Suspicion: in 1939, Francis Myles was an ordinary housewife married to a professor at Oxford until one day, a friend of the Myles arrived and sought their help in locating a spy within Nazi territory. The Myles had often vacated throughout Europe and all of the professional spies were already known and in danger. An ordinary civilian couple on a normal vacation would be unable to attract Nazi suspicions, or so their friend told them.

This was MacInnes’s first book, and I was very impressed with the character of Francis Myles. MacInnes’s social statement concerning women at this time was to declare and champion women’s intelligence. She then utilized the intelligence of Francis to make astute statements over international politics.

Francis: “You believe you have not changed, yet under the [Third Reich] which you praise so much, you may only read certain books, listen to certain music, look at certain pictures, make friends with certain people. Isn’t that limiting yourself?”
German: “Limiting oneself to the good, eliminating the bad – all that is better in the end.”
Francis: “But who is to say what is good for you, or bad for you? Your own judgment or some self-appointed leader?”
German: “You are a very prejudiced person, indeed.”

This was also both a political statement and a strong feminist statement. Above Suspicion has quite a lot of truth to it, which I consider relevant to modern audiences. Concerning feminism, MacInnes’s main goal in her early writing was to convince her readers that women were just as intelligent as men. All other statements about women were reserved for her later books.

To make her character palatable to the readers of the 1940s, MacInnes kept Francis in the background for many chapters – either sleeping or simply letting her husband be in charge. In effect, MacInnes compromised to reach an even larger audience with the message that women were intelligent. In one scene, Francis seemed over-emotional, but perhaps this was due to her being more aware of Nazi activities. I never heard her husband say anything about international affairs. It is quite reasonable that the situation in Europe affected Francis strongly because she was more intelligent and more aware than her husband. Even though she acted meek, she was in reality an assertive woman confident in her morals. When I thought this was the end of her strength, Francis confronted another Nazi and saved hubby’s life.

Assignment in Brittany was MacInnes’s second book. Following the battle of Dunkirk and the fall of France to the Germans, the British were desperate and determined to find information within German lines. Officer Hearne was the exact look-a-like for the French soldier Bertrand Corlay. Hearne’s mission was to pretend to be Corlay back in Corlay’s home village, live in German-occupied France, and obtain information about German operations. However, Hearne soon discovered that Corlay was never the loyal French officer. Corlay had been a Breton nationalist who sought to conspire with the Germans to bring down Great Britain. This complicates Hearne’s assignment.

This was a great book to read. It was considerably darker in tone than her first book. And MacInnes definitely conveyed a sense of lurking danger throughout the whole thing. There was a large passage in which Hearne traveled to deliver the information he had gathered. Nearly every place he visited had people who might kill him if they either learned of the truth or if they believed he was Corlay.

The next book of hers that I read was The Snare of the Hunter, written in 1974, although she had published many more between Assignment in Brittany and this one. Carrying valuable information about communist secrets, Irina Kusak has dodged bullets to flee from Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia. Once in Austria, she must depend upon a team of Americans and Europeans – David Mennery, Mark Bohn, Joanna Corelli, and Walter Kreiger. She assumes she is safe with them until the men who attempted to take her life follow her into Austria. Then, Irina Kusak and David Mennery discover that a member of their team is a traitor tipping off the villains to her whereabouts. The book is a race throughout Europe to protect Irina’s life and the secrets in her possession.

The Hidden Target was written in 1980. As I was reading it, I thought, “This would be a lot better if she actually had female spies and secret agents.” Although I liked Renwick’s decision to change jobs on behalf on his beloved woman, I was not that impressed with the story. Near the end, I began flipping through the pages of Prelude to Terror. In Prelude to Terror, I saw the name “Avril,” a woman mentioned in The Hidden Target. I remarked upon the reusage of the name. Then, I saw the name “Renwick,” and I realized that MacInnes had indeed written about a female spy in the first book of a trilogy.

Prelude to Terror: Colin Grant is an art critic depressed over the tragic death of his wife many years earlier. One day, he is contacted by Lois Westerbrook to purchase a painting in Europe. The owner of the painting wants to flee communist control and does not want the communists to confiscate and burn his art. The best option is to smuggle the painting out through an auction – hidden in plain sight – and to smuggle the owner out separately. Once he is in Europe, he finds himself with agents Avril and Renwick. Avril informs him that the owner of the painting is already dead. Two other owners had attempted to sneak out their art through auctions; they were also dead, and the purchasers were dead. Colin Grant then realizes that he is a part of an extortion deal to finance terrorism.

Half of the book is a romance between Colin and Avril, a woman twice-divorced due to the stresses of her job. Being a secret agent on the constant move does not bode well for relationships. At first, Colin insists she quit her job, but she protests on account of her job’s importance in tackling terrorism. Near the end, Colin agrees that they should discuss the matter equally and maybe he should quit his own job.

Ultimately, there are many different ways in which you can interpret her books. She is first and foremost an author of suspense. You can read her books in a purely political context, in a purely escapist context, or in a purely feminist context. The suspense and the danger have always been constant. I saw in her writing the evolution of society’s attitudes toward women. In the 1940s, she emphasized the intelligence of women. In the 1970s, she treated women’s intelligence as a given fact and made other statements. She pushed the boundaries but allowed for the largest audience to accept her message. I do not know if they are still in print, but if not, I wish for a publisher to gather her novels into great big volumes so that new audiences can read one of our nation’s greatest authors.