The Zeppelin's Passenger

When a Zeppelin crashes in a small English town, at first no one realizes it was carrying a passenger. He immediately puts in place a plan to blackmail two of the best ladies in town by bargaining secrecy for the life of their brother/fiancé, driving a hard bargain and showing no mercy. For awhile it seems that he could not possibly do any damage, but can that be true? What really has drawn him to town?

I liked how each character was deeply layered. A spy who wants to succeed, yet admits to severe self-doubt? A woman who holds the entire town and her husband to a high standard of patriotism, yet is so hurt by her beloved husband's refusal to even consider her point of view that she is willing to become a friend to a cunning enemy, simply out of spite? A man who pretends to care nothing for war, and yet is using a hobby to gravely cripple the enemy?

Several times I spotted nods to the Scarlet Pimpernel in the handling of the spy parts, though each character isn't cut-and-dry “good or bad” as in Orczy's Classic, and sometimes the lines are shaded so close together that you're left wondering whether to admire or feel disgust.