S Portrait of a Spy by Adams , Ian - 1977

Toronto: Gage Publishing, 1977. 1977 Hardcover book , 3rd printing , in the original dust Jacket ; ... VG book in VG jacket; Book appears unread, very faint lean to spine; jacket has light edgewear to turquoise background; 1/4" x 1-1/2" loss to top spine edge of DJ, not affecting any text or graphics; page edges slightly age darkened. Still Nice & Clean, NO writing, No bumps, No odors. Handsome book, turquoise cloth over boards, with gold gilt title impressed on spine, in matching turquoise jacket ... Book size: 5-3/4" wide x 9" tall ; 176 pages ... Inspector DV of the RCMP - the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - said , at the height of the cold war : " In 25 years the R.C.M.P. has caught only one illegal - real - spy ... Not a hell of a lot to brag about is it ? " ... Was this poor record of 'spy-catching' connected with the mysterious " S " ... the former director of RCMP Security Services ? ... Is it possible that S himself was a double ... or even a triple ... agent ? ... Why was he quietly let go with his pension , after a top-level investigation by the Canadian government ? ... Could S have been the mysterious " Fourth Man " , in the Burgess - MacLean - Philby matter ? ... In pursuit of the truth , author Ian Adams follows the trail of the brilliant mystery person known as " S " ... from Chile ... where an RCMP officer has accidentally disclosed information ... to Australia .. and then to Canada ... It is during this investigation that Adams becomes more and more obsessed with S , as a portrait of the man is given by his exotic mistress ... as well as by his fellow workers , and by government officials ... What also emerges is the intriguing ... and disturbing ... inner secret workings of RCMP intelligence ... Ian Adams was born to Belgian Congo missionary parents in Tanzania , Africa in what became known as Zaire ... Ian Adams emigrated to Canada , all alone , as a teenager , from his native Africa , after being raised in Africa , in Great Britain and in Pakistan ... In the 1960s he wrote for daily newspapers in Toronto, Winnipeg & Montreal, and became a war reporter for Maclean's Magazine , travelling extensively in Vietnam during the height of the war ... as well as in Latin America , and in the Middle East ... In 1977 his first novel S Portrait of a Spy became a huge controversial best seller ... so controversial , that Adams was sued for libel by the former head of the Russian Desk of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service ... and he became the only novelist in the free world ever ordered to court to reveal his sources for a novel ... His defence became such a cause celebre amongst writers and artists across Canada and the United States, that the case was eventually setteled out of court ... He has written several thrilling novels ... as well as movie screenplays and numerous scripts for television ... " S - Portrait of a Spy " - RCMP Intelligence - The Inside Story ... signed, by Ian Adams ... published by Gage Publishing, Toronto 1977 ... in English only ... Third Printing Hard cover book in the original DJ *** Secure packing for Safe Shipping since 1965 *** . 3rd Printing. Hard Cover in Dust Jacket. Very Good/Very Good. 5-3/4 x 9 ".