I missed it last year, but I’m back with my end of year reading wrap up. I read just over 90 books this year, but only about 11 or 12 books that actually came out in 2024. I’ll hit some of the highlights before touching on my favorite recent releases. Best recommendation from an 11 …
Over the course of the Slough House series, there have been a number of plot threads that have been left open for future stories. Below are some of the ones I’m most interested in seeing addressed. Warning - Spoilers ahead for all books in the series! Sid Baker - One of the most shocking reveals …
Continue reading Top 9 Burning Questions going in to Slough House
In the history of spy novels, Mick Herron’s Slough House is becoming as memorable a location as le Carré’s spy headquarters the Circus. Compared to London Rules, which took off like an out of control car, Joe Country is a more sedate affair. In a narrative shift from previous books, the first pages reveal that not all of our slow horses will be returning to the stable, leaving a sense of impending doom hanging over all the characters.
Publishers are always looking to refresh the backlist of authors and sell more copies. In the 70’s the beautiful painted book covers went out of fashion and photo covers came into vogue. The UK publisher Fontana had paperback rights to many of the well known thriller writers of the time like Desmond Bagley, Alastair Maclean, …
Over the past several years author Mark Henshaw has quietly been putting out some of the best modern CIA based espionage novels. Henshaw (currently or formerly, it’s kind of hazy) worked for the CIA as an analyst. While other former Agency employees such as Jason Matthews have gotten the buzz, Henshaw's spy thrillers rival the …
Ian Fleming didn't leave to the reader's imagination what James Bond liked to read. Aswritten by Edward Biddulph on the excellent James Bond site -Artistic License Renewed - we can see some of the books Bond perused while off duty. We're not as lucky with other famous fictional spies. That's the idea behind this occasional …
Continue reading Reading Recommendations for Spies – Charlie Muffin
I"m back with another addition to my growing list of books le Carré has recommended or blurbed. Catch up with my previous posts - Part one Part two Here are the new additions - The Reason Why by Cecil Woodham-Smith - JlC review - "I’m not sure why I returned to this classic account of one …
Last year I put together a short list of some of my favorite things from the past year. I’ve done it again and here they are in no particular order - A Divided Spy by Charles Cumming - This one is a little selfish. I won a auction to have my name appear in the …
It's the ultimate question for any spy fan. If you were a spy which kind of spy would you be? I've seen a bunch of quizzes for the movies but I thought I'd throw together this one for all the book spy fans. Are you a Smiley, Lemas, Bond or someone else? Give it a …
Ian Fleming didn't leave to the reader's imagination what James Bond liked to read. As written by Edward Biddulph on the excellent James Bond site - Artistic License Renewed - we can see some of the books Bond perused while off duty. We're not as lucky with other famous fictional spies. That's the idea behind …
Continue reading Reading recommendations for spies – Quiller