The Trinity Six

The Cambridge Five (Maclean, Burgess, Blunt, Philby, and Cairncross)%E2%80%94who were recruited in their university days as Soviet spies, then became members of the British government%E2%80%94have long been a source of inspiration for international thrillers. In Cumming's superb rendition, the hapless Russian scholar Sam Gaddis, in need of money, inspiration, and a future, discovers that a sixth Cambridge spy, Edward Crane, assumed dead like the others, is still alive and looking for someone to write his story. It makes for a superb spy novel, which makes it all the more unfortunate that John Lee isn't quite up to the material. Though unmistakably and appropriately British, he is also brusque, choppy, and sometimes pointlessly harsh and angry sounding. The audio package also includes a short intriguing interview with the author. A St. Martin's hardcover. (Mar.)