Too Bad To Die, Matthews - C

                                               This is a novel imagining the wartime exploits of  naval intelligence officer, rake, and creator of James Bond - Ian Fleming. In Cairo in the run-up to the Tehran Conference, his old friend, Alan Turing, gets in touch from Bletchley with the suggestion that the 'Fencer', a German agent they've been very concerned about, is actually part of either the British or American delegation. In the meantime, noted Nazi commando Otto Skorzeny has parachuted into the wilds north of Tehran and both Churchill and FDR are headed to the ancient Persian city to meet Stalin. The whole thing eventually fell apart for me with the exploration of whether it was Churchill's daughter-in-law Pamela or Averill Harriman who was 'Fencer'. Add to that Fleming's capture and torture by first the NKVD and then the Nazis, 'Fencer' (actually Fleming's Yank buddy from prep school) almost getting FDR, and Stalin somehow escaping a turned SMERSH agent and you have quite a mish-mash.