Scoundrels by Major Cornwall and Major Trevelyan

These memoirs are authored by two disreputable spies; or cads, rakes, rascals, bounders - call them what you will. Based in the form of a manuscript submitted to a publisher, these two "gentlemen" - Major Victor Montgomery Cornwall and Major Arthur St John Trevelyan - have been under house arrest for 30 years and for what we do not yet know - and have decided, by means of a series of letters (ie: snail mail) to relive certain aspects of their lives (adventures) to set the record straight and vindicate themselves.

I will preface this by saying that these memoirs are at times, humourous, vulgar, questionable, comedic, slapstick, incredible. These are tales of war, sex, love, adventure, deceit, murder, with the central point being the Scoundrels Club of Piccadilly. 

As over-confident seventeen year olds, Trevelyan and I were initiated into Scoundrels Club. Lunk Snr immediately handed us an undertaking, club parlance for ‘something that needs squaring away, putting right, or sweeping under the carpet’. Little did we know it would mark the start of a long and illustrious career of lying, cheating, stealing and skullduggery. Or to dignify it, espionage."

One must begin with the first in the series - Scoundrels - wherein we are introduced to the two Majors as they are now and as they begin to look back (from the 1920s to the 1950s). Sometimes the story-telling is more along the lines of a game on one-up-manship (there is also a healthy dose of animosity between the two) wherein we are treated to both sides of the story, and where the Majors' nemesis, in the form of former school chum Gruber Hansclapp, emerges.

The memoirs are also based around a series of well-known historical events - which readers will readily identify with, though will find themselves questioning if either of the Majors actually appeared in anything they have previously read.

Scoundrels: The Hunt for Hansclapp continues in the same vein - and takes place in the period from the 1950s to 1970s. And outwitting them at every turn - their Moriarty - is Gruber Hansclapp. Will they get their man - will the mystery of their house arrest be revealed - will the ever be released back into the real world.

It's billed as "... historically accurate, morally questionable and absolutely true ..." and dare I say, so politically incorrect! So if you are easily offended - step away now.

Interview with James Peak & Duncan Crowe (publishers or trustees of the memoirs) here @ The Turnaround Blog