''An Expensive Place to Die'' is a 1967 novel by

Len Deighton Leonard Cyril Deighton (; born 18 February 1929) is a British author. His publications have included cookery books, history and military history, but he is best known for his spy novels. After completing his national service in the Royal Air ...

. It is set initially in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

and takes its title from an

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

quotation about the said city. ("Dying in Paris is a terribly expensive business for a foreigner.") The action concerns the shady dealing and possible expensive pimping of one Monsieur Datt against a background of

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tang ...

. This is the fifth novel in the "unnamed hero" series, but unlike the previous ones, it includes chapters and sections in the third person.Author's introduction to the HarperCollins edition, London, 2012

Plot

The unnamed protagonist, a British intelligence officer, is told to leak to the Chinese information about the effectiveness of

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

s, to bolster their deterrent effect. M Datt, posing as a

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the pre ...

, believes he is working for the Chinese by accumulating compromising film of the sexual activities of various influential people. The Chinese have no interest in the films and the narrator does a deal with the French security services to bring together the Chinese agent Kuang with the American nuclear scientist Hudson in a farmhouse in northern France, to communicate the information. He then escorts Kuang to a

pirate radio station Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

ship moored in

international waters The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...

off

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

and returns to the harbour, where Datt, trying to flee, is shot by a Belgian

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...

. A sub-plot concerns Datt's illegitimate daughter Maria, who had been married to the French policeman Loiseau and had also fallen for the narrator. She protects the narrator when he is given a

truth drug Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs, ...

by Datt and then drives an

ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to med ...

containing the films to Ostend. Despite having caused her father Datt's death, at the narrator's suggestion she is let go.

References

1967 British novels British spy novels "Unnamed hero" novels Novels set in Paris Jonathan Cape books {{1960s-spy-novel-stub