[I And My True Love] is a smooth, readable story of love and espionage in contemporary Washington. It is so contemporary that one would not be too surprised to find any or all of the plot's many ingredients in today's headlines, and the characters are neatly chosen for a combination of plausibility plus drama. Start with a member of a Czechoslovakian mission who returns from behind the Iron Curtain to revive a love affair with the beautiful wife of a consultant to the State Department. Juxtapose against this triangle a young niece from California and a lieutenant from Korea. Flank them all with solid friends on the one hand, and sharp, untrustworthy young men on the other, and you have provided your reader with a generous number of possibilities for emotional and political excitement. With her practised hand, Helen MacInnes develops these possibilities one by one against the...