Forgotten Book - Underhandover

Here is a little mystery for bibliophiles, concerning the now-forgotten author Kenneth O'Hara. I first came across 'his' name on reading the first edition of Julian Symons' Bloody Murder, which said: 'Under the name Kenneth O'Hara, the talented, neglected author Jean Morris...has written four tangled and extremely intelligent crime stories about power and corruption, of which Underhandover (1961) is the most successful.' High praise indeed, although I should add that O'Hara's name is missing from later editions of Bloody Murder. 

However, I recently acquired an inscribed copy of a later Kenneth O'Hara novel, The Bird-Cage (1968), signed 'with love from the authors Michael and Jean, "Kenneth O'Hara"', which clearly indicates the book as a joint effort. But was that the case with the other O'Hara novels? I don't know, but I wouldn't be entirely surprised. Jean Morris (1924-96) was a talented and versatile writer, but is it possible that she married someone with experience of intelligence work which informed books such as Underhandover? I'd be interested to learn more about her.

Underhandover is set in an unnamed East European country during the Cold War. In style and concerns, it's much closer to the work of John le Carre than to that of Ian Fleming. The narrator is an Englishman called Bron Armine, who has been sent to the country to advise on policing. He is a shadowy figure, and I found it difficult to identify with him, which was a pity.

The story gets off to a good start when Bron is visited by an unnamed character who is on the run, accused of killing a man called Pauly. We then get a long flashback before the action really kicks in. The quality of the writing is quite high, but I think the book suffers because - despite the author's literary gifts - it's not easy to get excited about what happens in the story. A problem with a thriller. Did I miss something when reading this book? Quite possibly. Perhaps, also, I simply wasn't in the mood for it. Events in Ukraine and elsewhere in the present day are quite enough to contemplate without altercations in an unidentifiable place sixty odd years ago. But O'Hara was (or were?) a good writer, and I'm hopeful that I'll get more out of The Bird-Cage.