{{short description|1964 novel}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{infobox book | name = Department K | title_orig = | translator = | image =File:Department K.jpg | caption = First edition | author = Hartley Howard | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = | genre = Spy thriller | publisher = Collins | release_date = 1964 | english_release_date = | media_type = Print | pages = | isbn = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} '''''Department K''''' is a 1964 spy thriller novel by Hartley Howard, a pen name of British author Leo Ognall. It was published in the United States under the alternative title '''''Assignment K'''''.
==Critical reception== The ''Evening Standard'' deemed it "a fine, pace-holding thriller."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-standard-quick-crime-department/179031883/ |title=Quick Crime: Department K |first=John |last=Clarke |newspaper=Evening Standard |location=London |page=19 |date=October 6, 1964 |accessdate=August 16, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref> The ''Evening Herald'' considered it "a rough-action thriller with an interest-holding, exciting plot."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-herald-untitled/179032220/ |title=(untitled) |newspaper=Evening Herald |location=Dublin |page=8 |date=October 16, 1964 |accessdate=August 16, 2025 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Film adaptation== {{main|Assignment K}} In 1968, the novel was adapted into the film ''Assignment K'', directed by Val Guest and starring Stephen Boyd, Camilla Sparv and Michael Redgrave.<ref>Goble p.230</ref> While the book was mostly centred in London over a few days, the film opens this out by including more Continental settings and shifting from the novel's Berlin to Munich.<ref>Burton p.15</ref>
==Sources== * Burton, Alan. ''Looking-Glass Wars: Spies on British Screens since 1960''. Vernon Press, 2018. * Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:1964 British novels Category:1964 English-language novels Category:British spy novels Category:British thriller novels Category:Novels set in London Category:Novels set in Berlin Category:British novels adapted into films Category:Spy novels adapted into films Category:Novels by Hartley Howard Category:William Collins, Sons books
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