For more than twenty years William F. Buckley Jr.'s Blackford Oakes novels have entertained readers and satisfied those who love adventure, wit, and intrigue. With the publication of A Very Private Plot, Buckley has brought the series, which began when at the age of twenty-four Blackford Oakes was seduced by the Queen of England, to its satisfying conclusion. The year is 1995. An ambitious U.S. senator wants to weaken the power of the CIA, perhaps to the point of its elimination. To accomplish his goal, he tries to enlist Blackford Oakes - now retired - into his cause by forcing him to testify before a senate committee about CIA covert activities in 1985. The senator wants to know what President Reagan did at that time when informed of a plot by Soviet veterans of the war against Afghanistan to assassinate Mikhail Gorbachev, who had just risen to power. What will Oakes do? Will the senator be able to force him to testify? Or will Oakes be able to draw upon the wit and savoir-faire that have saved the day on so many occasions?