Edward Wilson has written a number of spy stories featuring William Catesby slipping back and forth in time to tell his life story. From being accused of being a double agent to shadow boxing with a diplomat's enigmatic wife in Marseille, the novel opens with a grizzly meal served up by the Mafia and offers a number of intriguing characters who have fought in twentieth
century wars across Europe and Indochina.

I am a big fan of espionage stories and am always looking for new authors in this genre and whilst appreciating the ambition of Wilson's world I found the plotline too confusing and disjointed for a newbie to this series. I am sure sure that existing fans will love it but I recommend trying an earlier novel to introduce yourself to Catesby and Edward Wilson
Thank you to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

A story of betrayal, political games and the atmosphere of the 50s during the Witch Hunt and the Cold War.
Well researched, a bit slow at times, intriguing.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I had been looking forward to reading this, as I enjoy spy thrillers, particularly in the vein of Le Carre and Mick Herron. However, from the very beginning I felt bemused and disappointed. I couldn't dispel the feeling that the author was trying to show the reader how much research he had done into the period, and was endeavouring to pack it all in to the story, whether relevant or not. The hero, Catesby, seemed to me two-dimensional and the plot convoluted. I am very sorry to admit that at just over a quarter of the way through, I lost interest entirely and gave up. I now think I might have been more invested in it if I had read the previous novels in the Catesby series.

This was very different to the usual spy story. A lot of violence, back stabbing and double dealing. A multitude of characters and an intense storyline. Gives a different look to spies and their occupational hazards.

'Farewell Dinner for a Spy' was not a brilliant book *for me* I struggle with books with a slow plot and it never seemed to pick up speed. I usually love novels with aspects of spies/espionage novels but the time jumps between the late 1940s-1950s and 2018 which I think I negates the concept of what happens to the character considering he is a spy and using time jumps in novels is not my favourite thing. I will say Edward Wilson, is a skilled writer and I did sometimes enjoy the inclusion of real life people. Yet, the sheer number of characters and in my opinion lack of characterisation meant that overall I did not enjoy this book.

Not every book is enjoyed by everyone, but it will be someones book - 2.5 rounded up to 3.

I thank the publisher and NetGalley for an advance review copy of this book. I have really enjoyed all the Catesby books to date. I like the character and I enjoy the linkages to real life events. But I was a little disappointed in this one and think the author may have run out of steam. It starts well and the flashbacks to Catesby's time in France during WW2 are interesting, then the more modern day section in Marseilles and environs is OK, but as soon as it starts withe the drug running I felt it lost its way and I was no longer gripped. I awarded it 3.6 stars on my own system, the lowest so far in the series. It will still appeal to fans of the series but would not be a good entry point for newcomers,

At the end of WW11 it appears that the port of Marseille in France has become a cauldron of conflicting interests. The French Government intent on shipping arms to Indochina to regain its colony, the communist dockers striking to prevent it. American agent is shipping opium out of Laos makes use of the port as a staging point and selling some to the mafia for their help. Into this a British agent is sent under cover to report on the situation. What a complex political mess with the agent trying have friends with all under the cover of collecting information for a book that he is supposedly writing. With the volume of opium being shipped The use of a freelance light aircraft is in adequate and the agent makes a deal to use transport planes that starts a sequence of double dealing and betrayal where friends become disposable or enemies. So who is going to be the last man standing enjoying his dinner

Farewell Dinner for a Spy is a good spy thriller which tells a story over a long time line but despite the blurb it isn’t in the John Le Carre class.

1949: William Catesby returns to London in disgrace, accused of murdering a 'double-dipper' the Americans believed to be one of their own. His left-wing sympathies have him singled out as a traitor.

Henry Bone throws him a lifeline, sending him to Marseille, ostensibly to report on dockers' strikes and keep tabs on the errant wife of a British diplomat. But there's a catch. For his cover story, he's demobbed from the service and tricked out as a writer researching a book on the Resistance.

I was a little disappointed with this novel. It has all the makings of a great spy novel but it didn’t quite reach those heights. It’s quite slow, and I found myself skipping passages hoping it might speed up. It’s a shame as the writing and descriptions are good, I just found it difficult to follow who was who, at times.

This is a perfectly readable spy novel that will, in turn, entertain and engage most readers. Some writing devices work well, such as the way characters enter, leave and then re-enter the plot, others - the multiple timelines, for example - are perhaps less well executed, although the sweep of the novel does require some plot device, such as that, for it to hang together. The plot is well summarised in the details and the various reviews, so that is not touched on here. The settings of postwar Britain, the seedy world of Marseille gangsters and the weaving in of the wars being fought in South East Asia that would soon develop into a major Cold War battleground are used effectively in providing a historical context for the novel. Recommended.

Could this be true?
I found this quite a long read, but it was engrossing. It concerns the exploits of a British SOE operative from World War Two who becomes a spy a few years after that war. The action is mainly set in France, particularly in Marseilles and includes a country hopping trip eastward to Laos..
A number of r dal life world events are drawn into the story with such realismthat, who knows,this could all be true. There are a number of larger than life characters who could be true as well.
However t her were a couple of times that, for me,, the book seemed to be losing it's way, but it did then get back on track. Overall it's well worth a read.

Rather dated but entertaining and well plotted.
Nice to revisit places that I am familiar with in France

Unfortunately this book wasn't for me. It started slowly but never really got going. There was so much detail and was never clear who the goodies were, if any.
I think it was a good representation of spies, double agents and diplomacy during the cold war and was obviously well researched. Despite my reservation as a book, I would like to see it as a TV series

Farewell Dinner For A Spy by Edward Wilson was an engaging read but for me, it was only that. I really wanted it to grab me but the story hardly got out of first gear.
I am reluctant to be overly critical of this book as I did enjoy it but I did find that I was pushing on with it because I was willing it to take off and raise my pulse rate but instead I felt like I had read a 'cosy' spy yarn.
I was lucky enough to read this novel as an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A bit of plod with none of the frission of excitement/danger that lurks in a John Le Carre novel.
The Whitehall snobbery and fractious relations with CIA were well expressed. I’m not sure how throwing in real people actually added to the authenticity of the story.

I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is the first of Edward Wilson’s spy thriller series featuring William Catesby that I have read and I found it fine as a stand-alone read. It is set in the early Cold War years of the late 1940s/early 1950s with the USA supporting France as the latter struggles to maintain its colonial power in Vietnam. The docks of Marseille are a key route for supplies from France to Vietnam and are the scene of violent clashes between left wing dockers attempting to prevent the supplies from being shipped and French police, with mafia thugs backed by American intelligence officers weighing in against the dockers. This is the background to a cat and mouse game between William Catesby, undercover as a writer though in reality a British spy, and an assortment of characters from his wartime past whose motives and loyalties are far from clear.

This is a complex and entertaining read, with unexpected twists and turns. The mix of fictional and real-life characters and events adds a layer of interest. But I had difficulty in identifying or empathising with the “good guys” amongst the lead characters and I found some of the dialogue to be clunky and unconvincing.

This novel starts in 1949 when English spy William Catesby is accused of murdering a double agent. He is thrown a lifeline by Henry Bones who sends him undercover to spy on the mafia in Marseille. The story flips between 1949 and an elderly Catesby in 2018. In all honesty, I couldn't finish this book. The writing wasn't particularly good, and I found the habit of adding a timeline to each chapter particularly irritating, especially when the timeline had moved on approximately an hour from the previous chapter. Two many names and characters were referred to but not explored in any depth, and the dialogue was jarring.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Farewell Dinner for a Spy is a spy thriller mostly set in the South of France in the 1950’s where the main character, William Catesby, an untrusted member of the British Secret Service, is sent to spy on Marseille Dockers whose strike action is holding up the supply of arms necessary to quell uprisings in Indo China. The governments of the UK, France, and the USA all have their own agendas but their representatives are not necessarily aligned having their own motivations as do those they all seek to control. Add in the Mafia, since arms and drugs are involved and you have a convoluted power struggle where allegiances are made and broken and it becomes difficult to see who are the good guys, if they exist at all!
I must admit I struggled with the book as there are too many characters few of whom are examined in depth so I failed to get interested in any of them. The plot was well constructed and quite believable but the action scenes and intrigue were not so compelling to make it a page turner. So it wasn’t quite Frederick Forsyth nor was it John Le Carre which was a shame since I actually liked the style of writing.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing access to this book

An entertaining enough read. Our spy is sent to France on a pretext which has nothing to do with why he was really sent. Enter in the CIA, the Mafia, foreign climes. I disagree strongly with the comparison to Le Carre. who is much more subtle and authentic. .
Not a bad read but not up there with the master



2.5/5 stars

Farewell dinner for a spy.

Another in a popular series, this novel starts in 1949 when spy William Catesby is accused of murdering a double agent, and one the Americans think of as one of their own. He has left-wing leanings which instantly make him a ‘commie’ in the eyes of the Americans and therefore a traitor. Philby and Burgess appear, pre their own betrayals which is a nod to the reader who knows, of course. 

A senior figure called Henry Bone throws him a lifeline, sending him to Marseille, to report on dockers' strikes but his cover story is he has been demobbed from the service and has become a writer researching a book on the Resistance. The story flips between 1949 and an elderly Catesby in 2018, so no jeopardy as we know he gets to live.

The writer has been likened to John le Carre but this is like comparing chicklit with Jane Austen. The writer has none of the subtleties of le Carre and none of the lessons in humankind. But this maintains its pace and if you like thrillers involving spies you will enjoy this.

I read a proof copy provided by Netgalley and the publishers.