Secret Services is set in 1929 England during the buildup to World War II. Much of the book takes place at a "gentry at play" country house party, but the focus is on an espionage plot, and on the heroine's wake-up call to begin her adult life. Outside the bedroom, Secret Services has the feel of a period film: an attractive couple in a series of gentle high jinks, all in the service of catching a rather inept group of spies.
Lady Gillian Christie is neither a social butterfly nor a downtrodden working girl. She's defied her mother to take a job at a newspaper, but her class and sex confine her to the society pages. When she's sent to cover a house party, never slow to go after what she wants, she hatches plans with a characteristic mix of pragmatism and naïveté:
Bed hopping was a feature of most week-end parties and this invitation to Somerton House was perhaps my chance. I could do my assignment, rid myself of my annoying virginity, take my place among the worldly-wise females around me and maybe, just maybe, liven up an otherwise dull weekend. Of course, I had to find a partner, but that shouldn't be too difficult. I'd just pick the one with the best body and who seemed a bit experienced. I didn't fancy any amateur groping and fumbling. . . .But this is no ordinary house party: the usual discreet dalliances are formalized into an elaborate sex game. Gillian is shocked to be paired up with Johnny Westmarland, a friend of her brother's. Johnny, however, is not there to party; he's a War Office spy.
I packed a filmy nightie that was pretty enough, but not new. I'd read about men ripping off a woman's clothes in a passionate frenzy. I was all for the frenzy, but didn't want to spoil a brand new item.
Gillian promptly offers a bargain: De-virginize me, and I'll translate German documents for you. Johnny, no dummy, seals the deal. (One assumes he'd planned to find another woman to, ah, infiltrate.)
The sex is explicit but sweet. There's nothing extreme; Gillian doesn't go from virgin to "Bring along your six best friends" like some Ellora's Cave heroines. Johnny knows the ropes, but his kinks are relatively sedate: nothing to jar me out of believing in these characters, in this period. I appreciated that Gillian's discovery of sex didn't hijack the plot (there's nothing worse for plot than a 100-page pause while the heroine explores her newfound need to be dominated). In short, it's not the hottest erotic romance I've read, but it's appropriately hot for the storyline.
Secret Services has elements of a coming-of-age story. Gillian fancies herself a modern young sophisticate, but soon recognizes her own naïveté about sex and about the every-man-for-himself behavior of her fellow guests, and her blithe lack of knowledge about the coming war. Her naïve dreams early in the book are supplanted by a wish to know more about the world.
I enjoyed the almost Gothic feel. Much is known but not seen, creating an atmosphere of shared secrets. The sex games at the house party are not out-and-out orgies, but couplings behind closed doors; the only action we see is Gillian's experiments with Johnny. The key is a public round-robin of selecting partners. Everyone is complicit; everyone knows what's happening behind all those closed doors; everyone risks social ruin.
Secret Services is no feminist manifesto. It's written as a period piece, and for the most part I found it internally consistent. I give the setting points for originality. And... I like the cover.
Not deep, but fluffy and refreshing. Grade: B
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