2023
“Riotous page-turner... this gem of a story will make even the most jaded reader crack a smile.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“Fallis writes from another time, when Wodehouse and Leacock and Twain roamed the earth. May he never become extinct.”
— Linwood Barclay, New York Times bestselling author of A Noise Downstairs
“Terry Fallis writes just about the tidiest romantic comedic novels you can find on Earth, let alone in Canada.”
— The Globe and Mail
“Terry Fallis is a brilliant and very funny writer who also understands the human heart. His words will split your side on one page, and put a lump in your throat on the next. You’ll not only come to like his quirky characters, you’ll want to meet them, and take care of them, too. Terry Fallis is a writer to watch, and more importantly, to read.”
— Ali Velshi, Senior Economic and Business Correspondent, NBC News
Angus McLintock, accidental Member of Parliament, has won re-election and is now the Minister of State for International Relations—or, in other words, he’s the junior global affairs minister. In this new post, he and his trusty Chief of Staff, Daniel Addison, are in London to meet with their international counterparts to discuss the upcoming G8 Summit in Washington. Unfortunately, Angus is not in charge of Canada’s involvement in the summit—that task falls to the actual Global Affairs Minister, not the junior one. What Angus is responsible for is planning a brief post-summit meeting in Ottawa between the Prime Minister and the President of Russia, the former head of the KGB.
The London meetings are all going to plan until Daniel receives a cryptic, late-night text, from a burner phone, directing him to a pub around the corner from their hotel. There is important information he needs to know, the mysterious texter says—but he must keep the meeting a secret, and must come alone. Naturally, he immediately tells Angus, who of course tags along to the pub—just as reinforcement. The soon-to-be-retired MI6 agent who is waiting for Daniel is not pleased, but there are more pressing matters at hand: Chechen separatists are plotting to assassinate the Russian President—and it’s going to happen when he’s in Ottawa to meet with the Prime Minister, just weeks away. Angus and Daniel have to put a stop to it before it’s too late. Naturally, no one in Ottawa will take them, or their top-secret intelligence, seriously, so they’re on their own.
In an instant, they are thrown into a race against the clock to uncover the Chechen sleeper cell, thwart their plans, and ultimately save the Russian President. Along the way, in classic Angus and Daniel style, they have to dodge bitter rivals, enraged protestors, and even a runaway Cessna. This is a madcap cloak-and-dagger adventure with humour and heart that will delight and entertain readers until the very last page.
“An MI6 agent just asked me to meet her in an hour at a pub around the corner,” I blurted out.
“And, well…” “And what, man?” Angus asked. “You’re seeking advice on what to wear or who should pay?”
He stood in the doorway decked out in pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt that proclaimed Hovercraft lovers do it on air. By the look of him, he’d been sound asleep when I knocked. Mind you, whether in the House of Commons or his boathouse workshop, day or night, his long hair and beard almost always looked as if he’d just driven through a hurricane in a convertible.
“Well, um, I don’t really know. I guess I just wanted to tell somebody that I’m meeting a secret agent in a London pub late at night for a clandestine meeting,” I replied.
“Well, Daniel lad, by my reckoning, if you’re saying that out loud in a hotel corridor, you haven’t quite grasped the fundamentals of the spy game,” Angus deadpanned. “Did she actually use the words ‘clandestine meeting’?”
“Well, no, I guess I’m just projecting, given the circumstances and all.”
“Well, you’d better come in. I’m bleedin’ awake now anyway,” he said. “And this hallway is not the venue for a conversation about MI6.”
A two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, Terry Fallis is the award-winning author of nine national bestsellers, including his most recent, A New Season (2023), all published by McClelland & Stewart (M&S).
Terry has written for many publications including Maclean’s, Canadian Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and the Toronto Star.
Terry lives in Toronto and can be reached at tfallis@gmail.com.