Autumn Tiger

British author Langley (Falklands Gambit, etc.) sparingly mixes humor with adventure, and it works. Five days from retirement, CIA desk man Jack Tully is sent to Paris because a high-up East German intelligence officer, ""Stapius,'' wants to defect but will meet only with Tully, who has no idea who he is. A token sent to Tully triggers his memory back to 1945 when he was undercover in Berlin and then was smuggled back to the States posing as a German POW. Top Nazi agent Graebner is also disguised as a POW, with a secret plan, ``SSG 300,'' which may be a last-minute ploy by the Germans to stem the Allied tide. Sent to a secluded POW camp in Louisiana, Tully learns about Graebner's breathtaking scheme, and also falls in love with a young war widow. A breakout from the camp, involving Tully's girl, ends disastrously for almost everyone. The truth revealed in Tully's climactic, rather sentimental meeting with Stapius isn't too surprising but it raises interesting possibilities about the end of the war in Europe. Langley's Americanisms aren't always on key, but the book moves smoothly and swiftly. (July 7)