Conspirator by Humphrey Slater – The first Cold War novel?

I’ve always been fascinated with the history of the cold war spy novel. I had previously considered Atomsk, released in 1949 and written by Carmichael Smith, the first but it appears to only be the first US Cold War novel. The UK’s Humphrey Slater wrote Conspirator and beat Atomsk by a year.  Conspirator follows a …

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black rifle with scope and brown gig bag

A Kill in the Morning – Guest Book Review

I’m pleased to welcome guest Dick Woodgate to the site for the below book review. ‘I don’t like killing, but I’m good at it.’A Kill in the Morning by Graeme Shimmin  As opening lines go, it’s a good one by any standard. It’s memorable too – I read Graeme Shimmin’s novel, A Kill in the Morning a few years ago now, yet I didn’t need …

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East of Hounslow & Homegrown Hero by Khurrum Rahman – Review

I’m always excited to find a new spy novel series by an author that does something fresh in the genre. I was lucky enough to have the pleasure of reading one such series recently. Thanks to the recommendation of the excellent Spybrary discussion group, I listened to the audiobook for Khurrum Rahman’s debut novel East …

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The Last Tourist by Olen Steinhauer – A Review

It’s been 8 years since we’ve had a novel dedicated to the trials and tribulations of Milo Weaver, Olen Steinhauer’s former spy turned spymaster. Milo was a member of a secretive CIA department called Tourism, it’s agents tasked with cleaning up messes that the government didn’t want to have to acknowledge. Members of the department, …

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Spy Games – Season Finale – Bravo’s Reality TV show Recap

Matthew Bradford and Jeff Quest recap and give their opinions on episode 8, the season finale, titled The Final Mission of Bravo's new reality TV show - Spy Games.

Who was crowned the ultimate spy?

FYI - We had a little audio wackiness for the first couple minutes before it cleared up.

The Last Dead Letter by Mick Herron

For more on Mick Herron's Slough House series go here. Mick Herron has seemed to enjoy playing in the expanded sandbox of the Slough House universe, writing a novel adjacent to the series, multiple novellas and with The Last Dead Letter, his first short story in the world of the Slow Horses. This story was …

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The Miernik Dossier by Charles McCarry – Review

Charles McCarry, who passed away this past February at the age of 88, wrote what might be the most intriguing and enjoyable spy novels ever in his first novel The Miernik Dossier. The 1973 book is in the epistolary format, told through 89 different documents that make up the file looking at the suspected Polish …

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