Soviet double-agent ‘Archie’ is now a British diplomat in the United States, feeding information on the Special Relationship back to Moscow Centre. Meanwhile, erstwhile Soviet agent ‘Bertie’ – Charles Cooper – is sent on a perilous mission to Italy before being drawn towards Berlin as the Allies draw near their goal. As the Red Army […]
The Last Retreat by Marina Palmer
After surviving a raid in Ukraine, war photographer Tash Carter is in desperate need of recuperation. She accepts a job teaching photography at Belford Abbey, a luxurious estate where the super-rich come to switch off and rejuvenate. One of Belford’s most esteemed clients is billionaire Eliot Drake, owner of Panopticon, a data-mining company which could […]
Under cover for Britain: two female WWII agents, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade and Barbara Bertram
Marie-Madeleine Fourcade led a French intelligence network supplying information to MI6. Barbara Bertram ran a secret safe house for agents in Surrey. They met several times. Here, Rachel Hore writes about how the two women sparked the idea for her new novel, and the challenges of writing fiction about real people. My new novel, The […]
How Ian Fleming’s secret war work inspired James Bond
Ian Fleming’s work for Naval Intelligence during the Second World War still remains largely secret. Alan Bardos investigates what we do know about it and how it inspired the James Bond books — and Alan’s own latest spy thriller, Hunter Class. It was often quipped in the gentlemen’s clubs of Piccadilly that Ian Fleming did […]
Cover Story by RN Morris
Things aren’t going well for writer Col Newton. It’s ten years since he published his only novel, a critically acclaimed commercial flop. Then out of the blue, he hears from his old university friend, Chris Lazenby. There had always been rumours Lazenby was a spy. Turns out the rumours were true. Lazenby has a tempting […]
A Dark and Deadly Journey by Julia Kelly
After being sidelined for a pesky gunshot wound, typist-turned-field agent Evelyne Redfern is ready for her next assignment with Britain’s secretive Special Investigations Unit. When a British Intelligence informant in Portugal mysteriously disappears just after hinting that he has vital information about German plans that could tip the balance of World War Two, Evelyne and […]
Spycraft by Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman
Early modern Europe was a hotbed of espionage, where spies, spy-catchers, and conspirators pitted their wits against each other in deadly games of hide and seek. Theirs was a dangerous trade–only those who mastered the latest techniques would survive. This book explores the methods spies actually used in the period, including disguises, invisible inks, and […]
Appointment in Paris by Jane Thynne
It’s April 1940, and Britain is in turmoil. Chamberlain’s government is faltering, and a German invasion may be only weeks away. A body, wearing the uniform of a Luftwaffe captain, is found in the grounds of Trent Park, a stately home and now a prison to house high level German POWs. Trent Park’s true purpose, […]