Broken Covers – They Live!

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, Hammond Innes, Helen MacInnes and Eric …

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Broken Covers – Eric Ambler

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, …

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Chicago’s Spy – Spy Story of the Week

Who knew that Chicago was such a hot bed of intrigue? This story from 1977 in the Chicago Reader brought it to light. The article tells the story of how the CIA used (uses?) legitimate companies to provide a cover for CIA agents in other countries. In return these companies received lucrative contracts from the …

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Duquesne spy ring – Spy Image of the Week

The largest espionage case in the US was the Duquesne spy ring. Led by Fritz Duquesne who despised the British and became a spy for Germany in both World Wars I and II, the ring was caught and prosecuted by the FBI in 1941. Interestingly they were found guilty on December 13th, 1941. I would …

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Leon Theremin – Spy image of the week

Leon Theremin is known for the creation of the Theremin, the electrical instrument made famous in the 50's for it's eerie usage in the soundtracks of low budget sci-fi movies. However, what is not as well known is that he also functioned as a spy for Russia. Theramin became a bit of a celebrity in …

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