Eyes to Deceit: The Company Files 4 by Gabriel Valjan #AuthorInterview

EYES TO DECEIT

by Gabriel Valjan

February 23 – March 20, 2026 Virtual Book Tour

Synopsis:

THE COMPANY FILES: 4

Espionage is easy. Living with it isn’t.

The Company named it Operation Ajax. MI6 labeled it Boot. History would call it a coup.

Walker calls it the beginning of the end.

1953. The Company is orchestrating the overthrow of Iran’s elected leader—an operation cloaked in propaganda and alliances. In Rome, Walker is stationed with Leslie, former M16 and now Company agent, and tasked to coordinate efforts between the US and UK. But when resources on the ground become a liability, Walker is forced to make a difficult decision—one that threatens to unravel what’s left of his conscience.

As the coup’s first attempt crumbles and Washington grows desperate, old loyalties shift. Allen Dulles wants results. Kim Roosevelt wants glory. Darbyshire feels left out. And Walker begins to suspect he’s not there to help win the Cold War, but to prove he can stomach it.

From Missouri to Rome to the Catskills to Tehran, EYES TO DECEIT explores postwar American idealism—and the spies who find themselves too loyal, too late, to walk away clean.

For readers of le Carré, Furst, Kanon, and Vidich this is espionage at its most personal—and most perilous.

Praise for EYES TO DECEIT:

“A remarkable, fly-on-the-wall story of Cold War realpolitik, Gabriel Valjan’s EYES TO DECEIT careens from Rockefeller Center to a Catskill resort to Rome and Tehran, giving readers a front-row seat to the plotting of the 1953 CIA and MI6 overthrow of the Iranian government. With noteworthy cameos from the famous, the powerful, and the ruthless, EYES TO DECEIT is intelligent, high-stakes intrigue at its best.”
~ James W. Ziskin, Author of the Anthony, Barry, and Macavity award-winning Ellie Stone mysteries

“The burdens of history and secrecy weigh heavily, gracing this excellent historical espionage novel with a gritty, nuanced, and ominous sensibility where betrayal is always possible. Even that of your own soul.”
~ James R. Benn, author of the Billy Boyle WWII mystery series

Book Details:

Genre: Literary Noir, Historical Fiction, Classic Spy Fiction
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: November 4, 2025
Number of Pages: 212 pages, Paperback
ISBN: 9798898200510, Paperback
Series: The Company Files, Book 4
Book Links: Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads

The Company Files

Read an excerpt:

Tania moved fast, her shoes clicked sharply on the floor. She fished a five-dollar bill from her clutch and approached a housekeeper in the hallway.

“A roll of toilet paper, and in a discreet bag, please.”

The woman hesitated, but Tania’s eyes were steady, unblinking. She slid the bill into the woman’s shoulder strap with practiced ease.

“Take it,” Tania said softly. “In case someone accuses you of theft.”

The woman nodded.

Ruth led the way. Tania followed, her mind already ahead, calculating the next move. In the bathroom, she locked the door and leaned against the wall. She heard Judith’s groans.

“It’s me, Judy.”

“Tania?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

The air was thick with sweat and nausea, sharp like unchanged hospital linens. Tania handed Ruth the roll of paper and a small perfume atomizer.

“Tell her it’s from London. She’ll like it.”

Ruth nodded and slipped into the stall.

Tania stepped back into the hallway, then stopped. A girl sick and humiliated in a stall behind her. She caught her reflection in a wall sconce—lipstick fine, hair in place, eyes clear.

Decide now.

This wasn’t strategy. She wasn’t gaining leverage. And still, her feet moved.

When she returned, Judith was pale, shaken, but upright. Tania offered her the drink.

“Peppermint helps nausea,” she said.

Judith studied her. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing.”

“There’s no game,” Tania said. “You have to believe me.”

Judith hesitated. “You and your uncle seem awfully interested in my father.”

Tania unwrapped a mint. “It’s a secret,” she said. “Just not the kind you think.”

She leaned in. “The government wants something your father owns or controls. Sheldon’s the go-between.”

Judith stared at her. “That sounds shady.”

“It might be.”

Judith exhaled. “They spiked my drink. Esther and those girls. Laxatives.”

Tania nodded. “Brutal.”

Silence settled between them.

Tania met her eyes.

“Want revenge?”

Judith smiled.

And didn’t say no.

***

Author Bio:

Gabriel Valjan is the author of The Company Files, and the Shane Cleary Mysteries with Level Best Books. He has been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, and Silver Falchion awards. He received the 2021 Macavity Award for Best Short Story, and the Shamus Award for Best PI in 2023. Gabriel is a member of the Historical Novel Society, ITW, MWA, and Sisters in Crime. He lives in Boston and answers to a tuxedo cat named Munchkin.

Catch Up With Gabriel Valjan:

GabrielValjan.com
Amazon Author Profile
Goodreads
BookBub – @gvaljan
Instagram – @gabrielvaljan
BlueSky – @gvaljan.bsky.social

Inside the Shadows: Gabriel Valjan on Espionage, Loyalty, and EYES TO DECEIT

What was the inspiration for this book?
I’ve always been drawn to moments where history is made in whispers, not headlines. EYES TO DECEIT grew from a fascination with Operation Ajax: a coup that reshaped a nation, yet left its human cost invisible. I wanted to explore what it feels like to live inside those decisions, where loyalty, conscience, and survival collide. My hope is that readers see—and feel—how the shadows of 1953 stretched into the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis.

What was the biggest challenge in beginning your writing career?
To riff on Debussy’s quote, “Music is the space between the notes,” I had to learn to trust the silence between words. Early drafts were overstuffed with explanation and moral commentary. I had to unlearn the urge to lecture and instead let tension live in character choices, small betrayals, and moral compromises. Fiction is most alive when you leave room for the reader’s imagination to fill in the shadows.

What do you absolutely need while writing?
Space to think, and honesty with myself. I think in scenes, so there’s the thrill of bringing them to life on the page—and the terror of losing momentum, the fear that a vivid scene in my mind might vanish before it hits the page. Sometimes I know how the story will end; other times, I don’t.

Do you adhere to a strict routine when writing or write when the ideas are flowing?
A little of both. Ideas need their own gestation, but the work demands discipline. I carve out regular hours in the morning, even when the muse is quiet, because that’s when the story flows best. Routine keeps everything alive, and flow makes it sing. I set the work aside and then return with critical eyes, ready to chisel, sand, and polish the prose.

Who is your favorite character from your book and why?
Walker, absolutely. Not because he’s heroic, but because he embodies the moral friction I wanted to explore: a man learning, too late, what loyalty really costs, and coming to understand his vocation. Over the course of the Company Files series, Walker realizes he is a writer.
A close second is Tania. She is probably the most self-realized character in the series—a dark butterfly emerging from her chrysalis. She’s been shaped by trauma, and fiercely alive in ways that surprise even her (and me).

Tell us why we should read your book.
Eyes to Deceit doesn’t just trace history—it’s espionage without car chases or shootouts. It’s political and nuanced, where every conversation carries weight, and the choices of a few shape the fates of many. Fans of moral tension, suspense, and the human stakes behind Cold War operations will feel themselves inside the story, not just observing.
Also, the novel highlights the crucial role women play in what le Carré called The Game. Leslie, Tania, and Clare Boothe Luce are forces to be reckoned with.

Give us an interesting fun fact or two about your book.
Operation Ajax, the coup at the heart of the story, was the CIA’s first “successful” covert action—but the novel treats it as the spark to other dubious operations.
Some historical events are slightly rearranged for narrative purposes, like Clare Boothe Luce’s arsenic poisoning. Fiction allows me to explore the “what if” of perception and speculation.
The Catskills Borscht Belt scenes? Entirely invented—but they reveal how espionage often hides in the most ordinary places.

Do you have anything specific you want to say to your readers?
I hope readers question the history they were taught—or weren’t. Question assumptions and contradictions. For example, we believe in the separation of Church and State—but why do we mention God in the Pledge of Allegiance, or display the flag next to the altar, as it did in the parochial school I attended as a kid?
“In God We Trust” appears in the novel through Allen Dulles. The phrase became mandatory on all currency in 1955, after a 1956 law made it the official national motto during Cold War anti-communist efforts.
Readers should interrogate the cost of loyalty, the weight of unseen choices, and the quiet compromises that haunt posterity. Fiction can’t fix history—but it can let you feel it, moment by moment.

Tell us a little about yourself and your background.
I never saw myself as a writer. I studied literature and the sciences, worked in research, wrote healthcare policy, and then shifted into tech as a systems engineer before becoming a nurse. Since childhood, I’ve been an avid reader. My second short story publication was short-listed for the Fish Prize in 2010, when I was in my early 40s.

What’s next that we can look forward to from you?
The next Shane Cleary Mystery is off to Level Best Books. Here’s a teaser for the sixth installment, FOUR ON THE FLOOR: Boston, 1978. Oppressive heat. Four dead. One PI. Zero clean exits.
The mayor, governor, and ex-police commissioner send a mafia don with a ‘request’: investigate the four bodies on the floor of a popular bar and disco in downtown Boston before the city explodes.
As Shane navigates corrupt cops and a killer who may be his mirror image, he’s drawn back into a war he thought he left behind—only now, the jungle is concrete, steel, and stained glass.
In a city where everyone hides something, Shane will discover who will kill to protect their secrets.
For readers who like fiction lean and lethal: think of FOUR ON THE FLOOR as the questionable morality of Gone Baby Gone with the velocity of Drive.
As for the Company Files, the next postcard is from Cairo, Egypt.

Tour Participants:

Click through the other tour stops for can’t-miss reviews, insider interviews, and exclusive guest posts, and more!

Click here to view the Tour Schedule