Spy who came from Oxford

Julian Roach (Harbour, £9.99)

Anyone who writes a story about a house party where Sir Edwin Drew-Page, clad only in a dressing gown, stumbles into the room of an innocent lady called Alicia, who is then rescued by an "Oxford man", must expect to be compared to the great P.G. Wodehouse, creator of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves.

Although Roach's stories have a 1930s feel to them, they are set in the post-war era and Wodehouse fans will, I am sure, find his writing style a little wooden.

Roach's protagonist, a spy-come-sleuth called Verdon James, has an old school tie and can charm anyone in his admittedly rather narrow social circle.

The first story involves a Second World War propaganda coup, and here Roach enters the dangerous waters which once trapped Wodehouse. Interned in Germany after the outbreak of war, Wodehouse infamously made five broadcasts from Berlin on Nazi radio, leading to accusations that he was a Fascist sympathiser.

In Roach's story, James, enlisted into the British Secret Service, finds himself at Dytchley (sic) Park, one of Churchill's country retreats, discussing the behaviour of the Duke of Windsor. The spy lists the names of the many members of the British establishment who shared the Duke's pro-Hitler attitude before the war.

The 'discrete intervention' involves Spandau, where Adolf Hitler's one-time deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess is kept prisoner, and it seems likely that the author is making a tongue-in-cheek allusion to Wodehouse's reputation as a traitor.

Roach, an Oxford graduate, had a previous career as a TV scriptwriter, with 267 episodes of Coronation Street to his credit.

His Vernon James plots are convoluted but intriguing, and contain just enough jokes to help them along. I suspect this Oxford spy could be the focus of another long series.