The Scholars of Night by John M. Ford
"The Scholars of Night" is a novel that weaves together themes of espionage, academia, and historical intrigue. The story follows Nicholas, a history professor who becomes embroiled in a web of espionage after receiving a request from his employer at a secret intelligence agency, the White Group. As he investigates the possible treachery of a fellow professor, Allan Berenson, who is believed to have ties with Russian spies, Nicholas grapples with the moral implications of his intelligence work.
The narrative intensifies with the introduction of Ellen Maxwell, Allan's lover, who becomes a key player in the unfolding drama. The plot thickens as she uncovers the identities of other agents involved in a deadly conspiracy. Through a series of betrayals and dangerous encounters, both Nicholas and Ellen navigate a landscape fraught with intrigue, leading to a tense climax where the threat of war looms.
Ultimately, the novel explores the intersection of personal relationships and larger political machinations, culminating in Nicholas's decision to continue Allan's legacy in a new game of espionage. The interplay of historical references, particularly involving Christopher Marlowe, adds a layer of depth to the narrative, inviting readers to reflect on the nature of loyalty, betrayal, and the complexities of intelligence work.
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The Scholars of Night
First published: 1988
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—future war
Time of work: The 1980’s
Locale: A fictional college and London
The Plot
Nicholas Hansard, a professor of history, is introduced playing a war game called Kingmaker with some friends and a teenager named Paul Ogden who wishes to have Nicholas as his faculty adviser. Nicholas receives a message from Raphael, his employer at the White Group, a super-secret intelligence agency, asking him to authenticate some documents found with the body of a drowned American major. These documents suggest that Allan Berenson, a fellow professor who had recruited Nicholas for intelligence work through an ongoing Diplomacy game, is working with the Russians. Shortly after this, Allan is killed by other spies.
Believing that his work had led to Allan’s murder, Nicholas goes to Raphael to resign from the White Group. Raphael offers him a chance to study and perhaps authenticate the Skene Manuscript, supposedly a hitherto unknown Christopher Marlowe play called The Assassin’s Tragedy. Nicholas agrees to remain with the White Group and leaves for England to look at the manuscript.
Allan’s lover, an English woman named Ellen Maxwell, decides to carry out a plan devised by Allan. Under the code name of WAGNER, she contacts a Russian spy named Palatine and gets the code names of the four other agents involved in the plan. She deduces that the first of these is Lewis Yates, who has stolen a prototype of a secret computer system used by the British navy. Ellen contacts Lewis, and he turns over the prototype. He had planned to kill her, but she kills him first.
Upon learning that Ellen has the prototype, Palatine believes that he can now safely kill Ellen, and he assigns a British thug named Cherry to the task. Cherry instead mistakenly kills a friend of Ellen, a British naval officer named Susan Bell.
Ellen then meets Nicholas at a library where he is researching the alleged Marlowe play. She befriends him while he imaginatively reconstructs Marlowe’s involvement in actual conspiracies and assassinations, as mirrored in the play.
Realizing that Cherry has killed the wrong person, Palatine fires him. Cherry then kills Palatine and steals his car. Gareth Rhys-Gordon of British Intelligence learns of Palatine’s death. Realizing that his killer must also have killed Susan Bell, he tracks Cherry down via the stolen car. He chases Cherry and kills him, perhaps with help from the Russians.
Ellen deduces the identities of two of the other agents through clues in the Skene Manuscript. The first, a man named Roger Skipworth, attempts to kill her, but she kills him first. She and the second agent, a woman named Celia Everidge, agree not to kill each other. Ellen gets equipment from both and contacts the last agent to put Allan’s plan into action.
Meanwhile, Nicholas and Ellen have gotten friendlier. An old friend of his, a novelist and historian named Claude Buck, is killed after offering to help Nicholas with his research. Nicholas deduces that Ellen is the daughter of Sir Edward Chetwynd, whom he knows is involved with the manuscript. Nicholas and Ellen make love. The next morning, he finds a note saying that she has been kidnapped. Although the note tells him not to tell anyone, he informs Gareth Rhys-Gordon.
At this point, a British naval war game is threatening to turn into a real war. Gareth concludes that it is sabotage, caused by Ellen, and Nicholas deduces from hints in the Marlowe play that she is at Dover. Nicholas and Gareth confront her at Dover, and she shuts down the operation before it can start a real war. She is arrested. Nicholas contacts Sir Edward Chetwynd, who is a British spy, and learns that Sir Edward had set up the killing of Allan, which was decided upon by a Pentagon computer called Sevenage. Nicholas decides to continue Allan’s work, and at the novel’s conclusion he is about to restart Allan’s Diplomacy game, adding Paul Ogden, whom he hopes to recruit as a spy who will work to overturn the whole spying system.