The Claws of the Gryphon

The title of Turnbull's latest novel (after Big Money is the name of a last-ditch Nazi mission at the end of the war to kidnap Ike in Paris and give Germany a stronger hand at the bargaining table. Three top SS agents, two of whom were raised in the U.S., and one who attended Cornell, pose as American soldiers and move just ahead of the last German offensive in the Ardennes at the end of 1944. The histories of these men are interspersed with scenes of their journey toward Paris, while an additional thread of the story shows a group of green GIs and a young officer trying to understand the growing evidence that American soldiers are killing other Allies. At the same time in Berlin, a young British agent, the mistress of an SS officer, hears pieces of the kidnapping plot and passes her suspicions along to Bletchly Park in England. There another intelligence officer makes the connection between the different bits of information and alerts Allied forces in Paris in time to save the Supreme Commander. Plenty of battlefield action (in Bastogne), some romance (in British intelligence), believable characters and lots of subterfuge are combined in this complex and satisfying tale. (December 15)