Johannes mario simmel wikipedia español

The Monte-Cristo Cover-Up (originally titled It Can’t Always Be Caviar and originally published in German) is no longer in print, and I became aware of it through a friend who purchased a copy for me as a surprise gift. This is a novel that falls in the espionage genre, but it’s not your ordinary spy novel. The tone of it can be gleaned by a caption provided below the title on an inside page of the book: “The fabulously daring adventures and exquisite cooking recipes of the involuntary secret agent Thomas Lieven.”

Yes, you read right…cooking recipes. I’ve never read anything like this, and taken as a whole, the novel is quite funny. The premise is that Thomas Lieven, with ties to the world of high finance in England, gets mixed up with the spy agencies of no less than Germany, France, England, and the United States during World War II through various mishaps beyond his control- he in a sense becomes a spy for each of the agencies, and thus, I suppose, a quadruple agent!

Thomas is very refined in his tastes and is an exquisite cook, and that’s where the recipes come in. During various critical moments in the story, Thomas volunteers his culinary expertise, and the actual recipes of the meals utilized to get him out of various jams are provided at those points in the story. It took me a while to notice that after each of the recipes, a caption is provided to indicate the significance of the meal: “During this meal Thomas Lieven became a secret agent,” or “This meal revolutionized French monetary policy.” Thus, there is a lighthearted feel to the story; it’s funny, but it doesn’t go so far as to be a spoof (thankfully).

In fact, parts of it are so funny that it caused me to laugh out loud, which, for me, I’ll be honest, is no easy feat. Here’s an example. When Thomas was recruited into one of the spy agencies, the recruiter stated, “I must insist on your attending a training course for secret agents I’ll take care to

Austrian writer (1924–2009)