David Burke, The Spy Who Came in from the Co-op: Melita Norwood and the Ending of Cold War Espionage. Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2008. ix + 209 pp. $34.95

Melita Norwood (née Sirnis), born in 1912 in Dorset, England, was the daughter of a Latvian father and English mother. In 1932 she became a secretary at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (BN-FMRA). She joined the Communist Party of Great Britain and was recruited to be a spy for the Soviet military intelligence agency (GRU) and later for the Soviet state security organs (NKGB, a forerunner of the KGB). Her job as secretary to G. I. Bailey, the assistant director (from 1944, director) of BN-FMRA gave her access to its files. According to David Burke, her access to the classified information made her a “major spy.” The value of the book depends on how well Burke is able to substantiate this claim, and unfortunately he falls far short. In an effort to enhance the importance of his subject, he repeatedly inflates her contribution, even going so far as to...