Henry Lapin is an agent with British Intelligence.
Technically he works for the 6th Joint Intelligence Bureau
The time period we are in following Lapin's three adventures are the years 1953-1954. The horrific Second World War has been over for just shy of a decade but the resultant Cold War struggles between the West and the Iron Curtain countries was definitely underway. Things have just gotten considerably more complicated, however, as the leader of that latter group, Joseph Stalin, had died without a named successor just a couple of months before the first adventure begins.
We are given a couple of adjectival phrases concerning Lapin in blurbs about that initial story to help introduce him to us. "An untested spy" is the first and "trained but unblooded" is the second. They combine to let us know that while Lapin has been schooled in his tradecraft but had not yet used it. In the opening sequence, we indeed find a very competent yet nervous man in action. Do not, however, get any feeling of incompetence in those words. Lapin might be a bit new at his craft, in that first recorded adventure, but he is decidedly earnest and determined and resourceful.
As the series continues, he gets not only better at his job but also wiser, all in a relatively short amount of time. Considering the things he is asked to do and the things that are done to him as a result, that is very understandable.
Good Lines:
- Starting the second book, Outremer, "Henry Lapin was hung over, and he blamed Mao Zedong."