The Spy in Black

During the Great War, German U-boat officer Conrad von Belke possesses the bravery, intellect, and facility in English for him to undertake intelligence work in the far north of Scotland. His mission is to provide information on movements of the British fleet in support of an audacious German submarine attack on their enemy. He’s not acting alone, however; his actions are guided locally by the experienced professional spy Adolph Tiel, who is in turn abetted by a most alluring and winsome “sister.” German strategy made substantial use of U-boats in attacking merchant shipping, believing this would rapidly and decisively weaken the Allied forces. Publication of Clouston’s novel in 1917 coincided with Germany’s policy of extending unrestricted U-boat warfare. J. Storer Clouston was a native of Orkney, the real-life setting for this spy thriller. While not as famous as John Buchan, Clouston’s work shares with that of his contemporary Scot a flair for dashing action and evocative locations. Such was the continuing appeal of The Spy in Black that in 1939 it became the basis of a critically acclaimed film of the same name.