I'm a fan of writer Alan Furst. As his book jacket bio says, he's "the master of the atmospheric spy thriller." His thrillers take place in the years before and during World War II. I'm reading his 2000 novel, "Kingdom of Shadows." Nicholas "Nicky" Morath is an Hungarian expatriate in Paris who works for an advertising company. In his spare time, Morath is a dedicated party animal who travels back to Hungary, Romania, and Czechoslovakia to do favors for "the Shadow Front"...."liberals, legitimists, Jews, intellectuals." In other words, he's on the anti-fascist side as Europe slides into war. A good guy. He collects millions in Hungarian "pengo" and travels to Antwerp to have Mr. Shabet's Jewish company engage in a plan that was in the news five years ago as one used by Islamic extremists. Morath wants Shabet to turn the pengo into diamonds, and then guarantee the trade with a letter to colleagues in New York City. No money or diamonds cross the ocean. It's just an agreement among friends. "It's a very old method," says Shabet. "Medieval," replies Morath. And as current as today's headlines. I'm not finished with the book, but the tension created by Furst resonates in our intrigue-drenched times. And I'm not saying that World War II and the struggle against so-called Islamo-fascism is the same. That's a fantasy created by the Bushies and the neocons. Different times, different enemies, different struggle. But it is a global struggle, and one that involves plenty of intrigue. What kind of "atmospheric spy thriller" would Furst set in Paris in 2006? Or Washington, D.C.?