[M.L.Malcolm]

I read "Inside Camp X" while doing research for my latest novel, Deceptive Intentions, which deals with the early days of the O.S.S. Ian Fleming was not trained there, although he allegedly visited the place in his capacity as a journalist. By far the most interesting personality associated with the camp was Lt. Col. William Fairbairn, who had been the chief instructor of the Shanghai municipal police and has a dandy knife named after him and his cohort, Eric Sykes (the "Fairbairn-Sykes," a double-edged stiletto with a foil grip). Anyone looking for interesting cocktail party conversation about how to kill someone needs to read his book, "Get Tough, How to Win in Hand-to-Hand Fighting," published in 1942 and reissued in 1979. "Inside Camp X" is a real labor of love by the author, Lynn Philip Hodgson, and a good read for anyone interested in anecdotal spy history.