5 SEPTEMBER 1981, page 19

Books

Ruthless expediency Ronald Hingley Stalin's Secret War Nikolai Tolstoy (Cape pp. 463, £9.50) Nikolai Tolstoy describes his new work as 'an attempt to interpret Soviet policy,......

Gold Mine

Richard Shone Rider Haggard: The Great Storyteller D. S. Higgins (Cassell pp. 266, £9.95) It often happens that a writer who is a popular best-seller is only interesting for......