Mr. Calder & Mr. Behrens by Michael Gilbert

 

Both of these books are collections of short stories that originally appeared in literary magazines that published short stories of all sorts.  Gilbert said in an interview once that he was very sad that those magazines no longer existed: they provided unknown writers an audience and paycheck and established writers the place to put short stories that had no business being dragged out into full length novels that book publishers demand. He said that, once upon a time when he took the train to and from work every day, half his fellow riders there were reading literary magazines: the stories were the perfect length for a 30-45 minute commute and make people look forward to the ride. Old fogey lamenting the good old days or a wise elder who knew what he was on about?  You decide

The first collection, Games Without Rules, was first published in 1967 (that cover image above is from a new edition that just came out in 2024).  The second collection, Mr. Calder and Mr. Behrens, was published in 1982 and has not been reprinted. All the short stories feature Calder and Behrens who are retired spies ("in intelligence during The War") now living not far from each other in an extremely tiny village, not very far from London.  And because (unlike young spies these days) they know a lot of  European languages and have managed to outlive their enemies, they are still useful once in a while. So the stories take place from about the mid 50s until the early 80s. As with Gilbert's other stort stories, each story can be read alone but there is an arc--getting to know our two improbably heroes--that carries through each collection.  All the stories are very entertaining and each is a good read just before going to bed--the good triumphs and the bad always gets their just deserts, and who doesn't want to think about that before falling asleep?  But be warned, they can be (unlike, say, the Petralla police procedural short stories) rather nasty. These guys play for keeps, don't give warnings before using their weapons, and are not accountable to a supervisor for messy results. But they are very knowledgeable about how to bury a body.  And, as I've said before, they really would make great televsion.