Okay, there's a really weird and gratuitous sluts/wives thing going on. I don't know what that's about, nor do I want to know. If any of the weird romantic stuff in any of these books has some basis in biography, I do not want to know.
Here's an interesting thing: even if I don't remember plot, motive, solution, location, etc. I do always remember the graphic violence associated with each book. Kudos to the Francii for evoking some vivid images.
And I also liked the stuff about UK foreign service, particularly as it differs from US.
Personal copy