The Well-Mannered Assassin

Aline, Countess of Romanones was born Mary Aline Griffith in Pearl River, New York on May 23, 1923. She received a degree in literature, history and journalism from the College of Mount Saint Vincent. After graduating, she became a model. During World War II, she worked as a code clerk deciphering messages in the United States Embassy in Madrid for the Office of Strategic Services. She posed as a socialite employed by American oil companies.

In 1947, she married Luis de Figueroa y Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno, the count of Quintanilla and later of Romanones. Her first memoir, The Spy Wore Red: My Adventures as an Undercover Agent in World War II, was published in 1987. Her other memoirs included The Spy Went Dancing, The Spy Wore Silk, The End of an Epoch, and the novel The Well-Mannered Assassin. She died on December 11, 2017 at the age of 94.

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