«The Money That Never Was» by David Luddington

Charles Tremayne is a spy out of his time. After a long career spent rescuing prisoners from the KGB or helping defectors across the Berlin Wall, the world has changed. The Wall has gone and no longer is there a need for a Russian speaking, ice-cold killer. Nowadays, state secrets are transmitted via satellite using impenetrable blowfish algorithms. Counting down the days to his retirement by babysitting drunken visiting politicos, he is seconded by MI6 for one last case. £250,000,000 of government money destined as a payoff for the dictator of a strategic African nation goes missing on its way to a remote Cornish airfield. Tremayne is dispatched to retrieve the money, and nothing is going to stand in his way. Armed with an IQ of 165 and a bewildering array of weaponry and gadgets, he is not about to be outmanoeuvred by the inhabitants of a small Cornish fishing village. Or is he? Bestselling author, David Luddington, weaves an engaging tale of one man's personal struggle with a world gone mad. It just so happens that the man who is struggling is a trained MI6 agent and the world with which he is struggling consists of fish & chips, cider and fudge. Not to mention the bungling Barry Penwrith, desperate to hang on to his windfall.