Beverly Hills Spy

September 1, 2023

The first pilot to take off and land on a ship, Frederick Rutland was a decorated British World War I hero. But after the war, he was not promoted within the new Royal Air Force, likely owing to class politics, and he angrily became a spy for the Japanese. Drabkin's interest is personal; both his father and grandfather served as spies in Los Angeles. Prepub Alert.

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Starred review from January 22, 2024
Drawing on recently declassified files, historian Drabkin debuts with a riveting account of Frederick Rutland (1886–1949), a British WWI hero who spied for the Japanese on the eve of WWII. As a celebrated naval aviator—he was the first Royal Navy pilot to take off and land a plane from a ship in battle—Rutland developed a taste for publicity and a lifestyle beyond his reach. Overlooked in the peacetime British military, he offered his services to the Japanese Navy, who needed his technical knowledge to develop a carrier strike force. The Japanese later helped Rutland relocate to Los Angeles to spy on the U.S. Navy and develop an agent network. With the Japanese government funding his lavish lifestyle, he rubbed elbows with the most famous English actors in Hollywood at the time, including Alan Mowbray and Boris Karloff, who out of concern over Rutland’s behavior eventually contacted the FBI, and Charlie Chaplin, whose former butler Toraichi Kono became a key player in Japan’s espionage network. Shortly before the Pearl Harbor bombing, Rutland turned coat again, but his warning about the impending attack went unheeded by a distrustful FBI. Drabkin writes with a novelist’s flair, roving between far-flung ritzy settings (Hollywood, London, Tokyo) and notable personages (from J. Edgar Hoover to Amelia Earhart). Readers will be swept up.

February 1, 2024
Government secrecy is a catchall term, guarding against the revelation of embarrassing incidents, criminal acts, and intelligence operations. Thanks to recently declassified FBI files, Drabkin discovered why the UK, U.S., and Japan would prefer to keep their dealings with Frederick Rutland, aka "Agent Shinkawa," secret forever. In the British Royal Navy, Rutland distinguished himself in WWI for acts of bravery and grace under fire, but class elitism kept him mired in the lower ranks. So, proficient in airplanes and electronics, he took his expertise to the Japanese Navy. He became a useful asset as he relayed information on British aircraft and later, the U.S. defense industry, after he relocated to California in the 1930s. As the world marched on to WWII, Rutland seesawed in his allegiances, becoming a threat to Allied and Axis powers alike. The life of a spy has never seemed so addictive or harrowing. Drabkin takes an evenhanded approach, portraying Rutland as complicated--equal parts hero and villain. This winning and dramatic biography pierces the veil of secrecy surrounding historical events.

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Starred review from January 1, 2024
A beguiling tale of espionage and double-dealing in the years leading up to World War II. He was known as Agent Shinkawa, a spy for the Imperial Japanese Navy. His real name was Frederick Rutland (1886-1949), a hero of early British aviation. As Drabkin relates, Rutland turned to Japan for work after having been passed over for promotion as one of the proletariat, even as another pilot "of a superior class...realized his skills were no match for Rutland's." Rutland had worked out practical solutions to launching warplanes from aircraft carriers, and, as early as 1920, the Japanese were both planning on using that new technology to forge a Pacific empire and preparing for war with the U.S. Rutland was particularly useful once he set up shop in Beverly Hills, plying pilots, aircraft manufacturers, and military officers with booze and letting them do the talking. Drabkin's cast of characters is surprising: The bon vivant Rutland got actionable intelligence out of Amelia Earhart and had dealings near and far with the likes of Charlie Chaplin (the target of a Japanese assassination attempt), Boris Karloff (an unlikely but real counterspy), Graham Greene's brother, and Yoko Ono's father. It wasn't long before the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence caught on to Rutland, who became a double agent to save his own skin, gaining protection from J. Edgar Hoover's FBI in the bargain. Both ONI and the FBI missed out on a trail of clues that might have prevented the attack at Pearl Harbor, in which Rutland was implicated enough to spend time in a British prison. Drabkin's expertly narrated yarn, based on a trove of recently declassified documents, is constantly surprising, and it's just the thing for thriller fans who enjoy kindred fictions of the Alan Furst variety. Strap in for a narrative that demands a suspension of disbelief--and richly rewards it.

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