The Peddler's Trade is a picaresque, satirical novel based on my five years in West Africa from 1955 to 1960. The central character, through a series of comical accidents, finds himself working for the Spillswell Flour Company while, without knowing it, carrying the credentials of a clandestine agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. He stumbles along the West coast of Africa in the throes of becoming independent as corrupt and incompetent...