If you are a spy fan and you are in London, odds are you will want to take a spy tour. I was able to take advantage of many of the ones I found during my recent trip there and wanted to offer a list of the various options. I didn't take a bad one, …
Category: Spy nonfiction
Le Carré, Revisited
In honor of publication week for A Legacy of Spies I've collected a "best of" list of some of my le Carré posts. I also recommend reading Matthew Bradford's great series of posts looking back at the Smiley series book by book. First, here's my spoiler free review of the new book, A Legacy of …
On Book Collecting – Part One
Over the past few years I've become much more knowledgeable on book collecting then I ever thought I would. As I've fallen down the rabbit hole of collecting books, I've picked up a few tricks and secrets I thought I'd pass along. Please use them for good and not evil. Tip # 1 - Choose …
Spy Writers Club
The first rule of Spy Club. Don't talk about Spy Club. 12 men received the invitation. On an unseasonably cool afternoon at the end of June they made their way across England to a back room of the Savoy Hotel. They came singly or in pairs, pushing through the wooden revolving doors and strolling anonymously …
Operation Finale – An exhibit review
The Illinois Holocaust Museum is hosting another traveling spy-themed exhibit following up on its successful hosting several years ago of Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs. This new exhibit, Operation Finale, is focused on the secret plan to kidnap Adolf Eichmann and bring to him to Israel for trial. Eichmann was one of the officers responsible for …
John le Carré’s Post-Cold War Fiction – Robert Lance Snyder Interview Part Three
We finish our discussion with Robert Lance Snyder in advance of the release of his new book, John le Carré's Post-Cold War Fiction. Read part one here. Read part two here. Jeff Quest: I’ve been working on a list of books recommended by le Carré and as a result reading many of the introductions he …
Continue reading John le Carré’s Post-Cold War Fiction – Robert Lance Snyder Interview Part Three
John le Carré’s Post-Cold War Fiction – Robert Lance Snyder Interview Part Two
We continue our discussion with Robert Lance Snyder in advance of the release of his new book, John le Carré's Post-Cold War Fiction. Read part one here. Jeff Quest: Le Carré has managed to stay relevant in a way that his other contemporaries still writing, like Frederick Forsyth or Charles McCarry, haven’t. McCarry in particular released a book …
Continue reading John le Carré’s Post-Cold War Fiction – Robert Lance Snyder Interview Part Two
John le Carré’s Post-Cold War Fiction – Robert Lance Snyder Interview Part One
I am pleased to welcome to the blog Dr. Robert Lance Snyder. Dr. Snyder has written the upcoming book John le Carré's Post-Cold War Fiction. I haven't read his book yet, but he has previously written The Art of Indirection in British Espionage Fiction and edited the spy fiction of Paradoxa, both of which I've …
Continue reading John le Carré’s Post-Cold War Fiction – Robert Lance Snyder Interview Part One
Le Carré Recommends
You've read all of John le Carré’s novels, short stories, opinion columns, letters to the editor, his biography and autobiography. Before you go back to the beginning and start all over, you want to try something different. What to do? Read books le Carré has recommended of course! Le Carré is very deliberate in what …
Le Carré’s first lines
For more on John le Carré click here. I highlighted the first lines from Eric Ambler's novels a few weeks back and in honor of John le Carré's newest release, The Pigeon Tunnel, I thought it would be interesting to look at his first lines and whether any changes or trends could be discovered. Hard …