Encouraging the unitary concept – that the later novels feature 'Harry Palmer' – is the 1974 dust jacket to the Harcourt, Brace & Jovanovich American edition of "Spy Story", in which the cover blurb states, "He is back, after five long-years' absence, the insubordinate, decent, bespectacled English spy who fought, fumbled, and survived his outrageous way through the best-selling "Horse Under Water", "Funeral in Berlin", and the rest of those marvellous, celebrated Len Deighton spy thrillers." Likewise, on the 1976 edition dust jacket to "Catch a Falling Spy", the novel features "Deighton's familiar hero, our bespectacled Englishman". A number of minor characters from the earlier novels also appear in "Spy Story", further connecting the books.