''A Very Private Plot'' is a 1994 historical

spy novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

William F. Buckley, Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...

It is the tenth of 11 novels in the

Blackford Oakes Blackford "Blackie" or "Black" Oakes is a fictional character, a Central Intelligence Agency officer, spy and the protagonist of a series of novels written by William F. Buckley, Jr. Early life Oakes was born in 1925. He served in World War II ...

series. The novel was well received by ''The New York Times'' described the novel a full of "grave whimsy with which Mr. Buckley retraces old conflicts" and "deliver ngmore than mere routine spy thrills."

Plot

In early 1995,

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

agent Blackford Oakes is called to testify before the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

regarding a suspected plot to assassinate Mikhail Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union.

Plot

References

Further reading